Prologue: Cosmic Overture (Part 1)
Warning: This is a Danganronpa fic. There's going to be a lot of violence, gore, and blood. And maybe a few other things. You've been warned (somewhat)
Until now there was no animal more godlike than these and more capable of high intelligence and able to dominate all the rest. Then man was born; either the creator of the universe, originator of a better world, fashioned him from divine seed, or earth, recently formed and separated from the lofty aether, retained seeds from its kindred sky and was mixed with rain water by Prometheus, the son of Iapetus, and fashioned by him into the likeness of the gods who control all. While other animals looked down to the ground, man was given a lofty visage and ordered to look up to the sky and fully erect his face to the stars. Thus earth that had been crude and without shape was transformed and took on the figure of man unknown before.
The sound of a clock ticking was constant. But the sound didn't come from the usual source. Instead, it came from a pocket watch, held in the hand of a man.
He stared intently at the clock, watching the seconds tick away. The man was draped in a white cloak around him, and he had golden chains around his body. On closer inspection, those chains all belonged to the same one, attached neatly to the clock in his hand. On his head, he had a black top hat with a red band going around it. He had light brown messy hair, and blue eyes. He was wearing some black dress pants, and some black shoes. He stood at 5'10".
After a few more seconds of waiting, he heard some footsteps that tore him away from his focus. "Finally here. You're late." He seemed annoyed. Putting the pocket watch into his pocket, he stopped leaning on the wall.
The person approaching him was a girl. She had short brown hair, and yellow eyes. She wore black heels that clicked against the ground with every step. She seemed to be dressed as a teacher would be, with a white button up shirt and black skirt. She stood at 5'11" with the help of her heels. Without them, she was only 5'9". Around her waist was a utility belt that seemed like it could contain various flasks, but they weren't there. "Ever obsessed with time, aren't you?" Now that she had caught up to him, the two walked side by side.
"We don't have all day to start things." He shook his head, crossing his arms. His eyes drifted to a nearby classroom that was empty.
"I've gathered all the candidates that wanted to join the program." The girl said, before looking at the ground. "To think we'd have a more practical use of this soon. I was hoping to get a few more months… even years… before we used it for anything relevant."
"Time's a cruel mistress." He pulled out his watch again, watching the seconds tick away. "It's already been five days since the incident." He turned his attention towards the girl. "Are you sure the candidates are ready?"
She stopped walking for a second to let out a deep sigh. "Not really. Most don't even know the reason behind it." As the two reached a door, she reached into her pocket before pulling out a piece of ID. The door had several different scanners.
Scanning the card, and then her eyes, the scanner spoke up. "Caroline Welsh. Former Ultimate Alchemist."
She stepped through the door, while the man waited on the outside.
When the door closed, the man took his turn to scan the appropriate things. When the door spoke up, it revealed his identity. "Danny Mesme. Former Ultimate Hypnotist."
Stepping past the door, the two began to walk again.
There was a long drawn out silence before either spoke up. Caroline was the one to break the silence. "What's their status?"
"They still have brain activity." He answered, hands in pockets. He went to say something else, but cut himself off, taking a moment longer to speak. "Technology is the only thing keeping them alive, but I fear they don't have much longer to live. Maybe two months at best. And this test would take almost as long as that."
Time was dire, it seemed. Letting out a small sigh, Caroline looked down the hallway. "Things should be ready to start in two days. She said she needs some extra time."
"Haven't we already given her enough?" Danny shook his head, furrowing his brows. "We need to do something now."
As they reached the end of the hallway, they took a turn, and were greeted by a door containing another scanner.
Both scanning their hands, they entered the room.
Several different people were walking around frantically, making sure everything ran smoothly.
The room was round, with an upper and lower layer. The upper layer was where all the people seemed to be working, while the lower level housed the important equipment like pods. The lower level was blocked off by a railing, with stairs at two separate locations leading down.
Directly in front of the two of them, there was a woman leaning over the railing, watching everything go down.
"Paige." Danny called out, taking a few steps towards her.
Noticing that the two people she had been waiting for arrived, she turned to face them. The girl had long lapis coloured hair, with a few strands of indigo mixed in. She had a pin in her hair with a frowning face. There seemed to be another side of it, but it was impossible to tell what it was from this angle. Her orange eyes scanned over the two of them as they walked over to her. She had a purple skirt that went to about her knees, passing it by a couple inches. As for her shirt, it was a rather dull blue colour, with a few different patches visible. Almost as if the shirt was made badly. "You're finally here." She smiled at the two of them.
"That's what I said." Danny said it in a rather humorous way, but it was obvious to tell deep down he was beyond pissed.
"Calm down…" Caroline moved over to the railing to get a better look. Seeing the pods closed, she frowned. "They really did a number on us, huh…"
Standing next to her, the girl joined her in frowning. "Yeah… they really did." Her eyes seemed focused on a specific pod. Tearing her attention away from it, she turned to look at the two of them again. "But why stop here? I thought you needed to be somewhere else."
The hypnotist tilted his hat down a bit. "Because I just wanted to check up on things." He had moved over to stand over the railing. His eyes seem to stay on one of the pods, the same one that Paige had been looking at.
"For someone who's also so punctual, this is unlike you." Caroline shook her head. "Now come on, we're already late." She stepped away, heading back the way they had come.
Watching for a little bit longer, the hypnotist let out a sigh before stepping away too. "You still aren't sure if any of this will work, right?"
"No way to know until we try. We had some practice runs that seemed promising, but nothing concrete." And that just wasn't going to do it. "But that's why we have the volunteers, right?"
"Volunteers…" He trailed off, tipping his hat down. "It feels wrong even calling them that." He knew the nature of it all…
Caroline let out a sigh, holding her own arm. "It'll be fine. We'll be able to make a great advancement with this." At least, she hopped. In the end, there just wasn't any way to know for sure.
The two spent the rest of the walk in silence.
…
…
…
…
…
?
Low humming could be heard throughout the new location, buzzing away, almost as if machines were given life to breath.
Roaming around the room was a short looking man who only stood at about 4'11". His light green eyes scanned the room, looking for anything of value. And what he found valuable was a means of leaving the room. The door was there, but it was locked. He had short green hair, a few shades darker than his eyes, cut in a classic Chinese bowl cut. Although it wasn't a perfect one, as a few strands poked out to give it a less bland look.
As for what he was wearing, he had a white lab coat on with different colour splotches all over it, gained through multiple years of wearing it. Underneath that, he wore a white unkempt button up shirt with a maroon vest. Had he not been wearing the lab coat, he would almost look like a University student.
On his face, he was wearing a neat pair of goggles to protect his eyes from whatever dangers lurk around (himself). He wore some black pants, and finally, he finished up with some blue-stained shoes. He also seemed to be wearing a watch.
"Hmm…" He hummed out in thought as he knocked on the metallic wall that lined the room. "Not hollow…" He noted to himself. As he was walking around the room, he was swirling around a flask that contained a purple liquid.
After inspecting the wall a bit more, his eyes shifted towards the other person left here in the room. There was a girl on the ground, passed out. He wanted to wake her up, but he didn't want to disturb her slumber. Besides, she might get in the way of him figuring out a way out of here.
He found himself in front of the door once again. As far as he knew, it was the only way out of this room, and yet, it remained closed. "Hypothetically speaking…" He began to mumble to himself. "The door is the only way we could have gotten in, so it means it's the only way we have out." There wasn't any ventilation or windows.
"Which means…" He glanced over at the flask in his hands. "There's only one way out of here." After agitating it a bit longer, he chucked it at the door. The liquid reacted negatively and blew up on the door. The force sent him back a bit, landing on the floor. But that wouldn't matter as long as the door was- It remained intact. "Ah helium!" He called out, choosing an alternative to swearing.
What he hadn't accounted for, was the noise that it made, which ultimately woke up the girl in the middle of the room.
Quickly, she got up in a panicked state. "What was that?" It didn't take long for her eyes to slowly move towards the boy.
Now that she was up, he could take a look at her.
She had long royal blue hair that went down to her lower back. There are a few strands of black hair. Her hair was pinned back on the left side with a Gemini hair clip. Her amber eyes spent some time looking at him, trying to ascertain if he was a threat or not. She stood a few inches taller than the boy, at 5'2".
For what she was wearing, it was a dress with a midnight blue bodice, a knee length skirt that was made of several different colours like purple, blue, black, and white. It looked a lot like the night sky. She had some off shoulder midnight blue sleeves, some black tights, and some silver heels.
Gemini wasn't the only Zodiac sign that she was wearing. She had a silver necklace with Leo, she had some earrings with the Aquarius symbol, silver rings shaped like Taurus. As for the others, they were represented as bracelets. Although, amongst them, there seemed to be a watch too.
"Who are you?" She called out, staying right where she was. All things considered, she was handling this pretty well. The only context she had was that she awoke in a new place, with only one other person here. And she heard an explosion.
"Oh? Me?" He had a new flask out with a new liquid inside already. A confident smile appeared on his face as he adjusted his goggles similarly to how one would adjust glasses. "Theoretically speaking, I'm… An Ultimate."
The girl stared at him for a few seconds. "You're an Ultimate too?"
Realising the implication of her words, the liquid in the flash grew agitated. "Wait, you too?" It almost burst out completely. "And here I thought I was special." The flask began to calm down. "Wait, if you're an Ultimate too, then…" He trailed off before scribbling some stuff down on his hands. "Yes, then this can be no more coincidence." Adjusting his glasses, he looked over at the girl. "This must be Hope's Peak doing." He concluded.
That made sense to her. If they were both Ultimates, why wouldn't Hope's Peak be involved? "But…" She trailed off, still not satisfied with that solution. "Why would they do this at all? This doesn't look like Hope's Peak." Her hand fidgeted around with her ring. "So I think this might be something else entirely."
"Are you saying…" The liquid in the flash began to turn to a red. "That I'm wrong?" He quickly shook his head. "Nonono. I can't be wrong. I put so much thought into it!"
Seems like he was going to blow at any moment. "Well, we can't confirm if it's wrong yet." The last thing she wanted was the sole person she was trapped with to blow a fuse. "Why don't we try and introduce ourselves?" She suggested.
That seemed to calm him down. "Introductions?" His eyes drifted to the side. "Yeah! It'd be good to know a name. And a talent." But he might as well go first. "I'm Edison Thompton. And as it is quite clear, I'm the Ultimate Chemist." He adjusted his goggles again.
Yeah, the flask kind of gave him away. "Nice to meet you." She offered him a smile before getting ready for her own introduction. She wasn't to do that today, but it didn't seem like she had much of a choice. "I'm Seira Natsume, and I've let the stars guide me in my journey to become the Ultimate Astrologist." After looking at him for a few seconds, she decided to move onto asking him a question. "When is your birthday?"
He didn't like where this was going, but he decided to play along anyways. "February 11th…"
"Aquarius…" She mumbled out, twirling her earrings around. Taking one look at Edison again, she slowly began to understand. "Yeah, that makes sense. They tend to be more analytical, and you seem like someone into sci-fi."
Staring at her for a few seconds, mixing around the solution in his flask, he shook his head. "Fake science."
"Fake science?" She repeated, slightly offended. "It's not a fake science." The two of them were off to a bad start.
He shook his head, examining the flask a bit. "I don't think astrology is going to help us get out of here."
He wasn't doing himself any favours. Seira huffed slightly, pointing out the door. "And tell me how chemistry has helped out so far."
Edison took a glance at the door. "That was just a miscalculation. Theoretically speaking." He poured some more liquid into the flask. "If I just adjust the formula slightly, it should yield the results I want."
Ultimately, she decided none of this was worth it. "Maybe science just isn't the answer here." She had calmed herself down a bit. "Have you tried looking around the room?"
Tearing his focus away from his solution, he glanced around the room again. "Not really. The power seems to be off at the moment, so nothing is responding. The walls aren't hollow, so we can't break through them. The only way forward is the door."
Right, she had noticed the distinct lack of windows in this room. So no clue where they could even be. She took a moment to adjust her bracelets before noticing something. "Huh?" She glanced down at the watch she had just grabbed. "What's this?"
Edison shrugged. "I've had some thoughts. It might be something Hope's Peak gave to us. Because I didn't have one before coming here."
She tapped away at the screen, but nothing happened. "It's probably not worth worrying about right now." They still needed to find a way out.
For the first time since this scene started, someone took an actual look around the room. Several different lockers lined up the room, with several different benches in the middle. "A locker room?" Seira approached one of them, trying to pull it open. "Nothing." Seeing a small glint on the screen, she noticed that there was a place for one to place their finger on. "Ah, it must be opened with your fingerprints." She tried to scan her own finger, but it didn't register. "Huh?"
Edison moved closer, shaking his head. "There's no power. I thought I mentioned that."
He had, but she elected to ignore him at the time based on his rude behaviour before. "Then…" If the power was off. They wouldn't be able to interact with anything electrical. "The door. Does it have a key?"
"Hypothetically, it should have a key. But it seems to be lacking even that." Edison moved over to the door, tapping on the spot that there should have been a lock. "This door seems to be electronical as well."
"Then!" She realised the issue they were facing right now. "How can we open the door if the power is out?" Her hands moved her bracelets around to get a better look at the watch she had been given.
He adjusted his goggles. "That's why we should worry about breaking down the door. But we don't have anything like that."
Placing her hand on the door, she frowned at how cold it felt. "For the time being… I don't think we'll be able to get out of here…" Which meant they would just have to wait for something else to happen….
?
The man had been awake for a while, his eyes fixated on one thing, and one thing only. The large circular door right in front of him. "Hmm…" He ran a hand through his hair as he tried to piece together just what he was looking at. It seemed to be an entrance of some kind, but he didn't like what was on the other side.
The man in question had messy dark green hair that went to about the back of his head, with the front having bangs that reached the bridge of his nose. This caused his eyes to be obscured, but one would still be able to barely make out the cyan eyes if one looked closely enough. His hair slowly changed to a lighter green the further it got from the base. He had some scraggly peach fuzz on his cheeks.
The clothes he was wearing were a mixture between casual and professional. He wore an unbuttoned up black button up shirt, with a two-layer dark green tech wear jacket over it. The inner layer was a light green. Around his wrist was a watch. For pants, he had black dress pants that didn't look as nice as they once did, almost as if he had just grabbed them from a pile. Lastly, some old black running shoes with green soles and laces. He stood at 5'9".
Back to looking at the entrance, it seemed to be a large circular door that had to be rotated to open. There were some parts that had some windows, so he could see onto the other side. But it looked like the night sky, if anything else. "Hmm…" He hummed out again. He was free to go anywhere else, but there wasn't much else of interest around, and he didn't feel bothered to move away.
His eyes slowly trailed over to the girl that was with him. She was sleeping, but the only difference is that she was still standing up. She was here before he got here, so maybe she was always like that. He had elected to ignore her for the time being, given that she seemed too young to be of any help. Besides, with the way she was sleeping standing up, he doubted she had any potential that would interest him.
Stroking his chin, his expression turned back towards the door. "I don't understand any of it." He couldn't even begin to piece together how the door worked. There was nothing to spin to open it.
Many questions swirled around in his mind, but the will to find any of those answers were miniscule. Letting out a sigh, he turned his attention back towards the girl. He might as well wake her up, but he wasn't sure how much help she'd be. She didn't exactly give off the vibe he was looking for. Still, better than nothing. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he began to shake her.
"H-huh…?" After several seconds of being shaken, she took a defensive step back. "What are you doing?" She didn't seem to be in a good mood. She narrowed her eyes at him. Although she seemed on the verge of going back to sleep. She had long messy blonde hair with a bedhead. Several strands fell between her eyes. For now, her eyes were open, so the man could see that they were a dull red colour. She stood shortly at only 4'9", an entire foot shorter than him. Around her wrist, almost slightly too big, was a watch. She was wearing a slightly oversized pale purple sweater with yellow moons printed all over it. She wore grey sweatpants with pale purple sneakers.
"I think there's things more important than sleeping right now. Do you know where we are?"
She had closed her eyes, shaking her head. "You woke me up for that…?"
"I…" What was this girl's deal? Was she not at least a bit alarmed about everything that was happening? And here he thought he was too lazy. "Look, listen. Wake up, kid."
She opened one eye, still trying to get some form of sleep. "Kid…? I thought this was… How young do you think…" She let out a small yawn. "... I am?"
Eyeing her a bit, the man shook his head. "You look like you might still be in middle school. You're still a kid."
For a few seconds, she had fallen back asleep, unable to keep the conversation going.
He was getting increasingly annoyed. "Wake up." He ordered her.
Her eyes slowly opened again. "You again…?" She rubbed her eyes, letting out a yawn. "Are you going to leave soon…?"
At this point, there was no reason to even bother with her. "No. I was just leaving." He walked past her, intent on finding somewhere else to go.
"Why are you asking me all of these questions?" Finally, she said something that was worth a conversation.
He narrowed his eyes at her. "All that sleeping and that's the only thing you can come up with?"
The girl moved some of the strands of hair out of her eyes. "You really confuse me sometimes."
What was this girl even mumbling about? "How can I…?" This girl didn't make any sense, nor did she even bother explaining herself. "You're no help."
"I wasn't trying to be." She closed her eyes again.
He should just leave now, save himself some sanity. And that's exactly what he did! No need to play her game.
"Hey…" She called out, turning to look at him. Seems she wasn't completely out of it. "You never answered my question."
"You never answered mine."
They were at a stalemate.
"Why do I have to…?" She should just go back to sleep.
Well, if she didn't want to answer any of his previous questions, she could at least answer his next one. "Name."
"What?"
"Your name."
For the first time, her eyes were wide open. "This a-" She cut herself off to yawn. "Truly a mystery…" She mumbled out to herself. "May Summers…" Her head fell to the side as she struggled to keep herself awake. "Ultimate Academic Prodigy." She seemed annoyed that she had to introduce herself.
An Ultimate? He never got the vibe off her, then again, a talent like that was worthless to him. He ran a hand through his hair. "At least we're getting somewhere. Kim Dae-Hyun." He introduced himself. "Ultimate Talent Manager." He was going to say more, but was cut off.
"I never asked." She didn't seem to care that he was an Ultimate.
Turning his attention back towards the large circular door, he crossed his arms. "What do you think this is?"
"An entrance… How do you think we got here?"
That was good and all, but what the hell was on the other side. "And how do we leave?" There was a long silence. When he turned back, her eyes weren't closed, but she was staring off into the distance. This would seem to be a running trend with her. "May." He called out to her.
She quickly moved her eyes. "Hmm? You need something?"
"How do we leave?" Dae-Hyun repeated. "I don't intend on staying here wasting my time." He had better things to do. Like nothing.
"There… Is no way out." That wasn't a dramatic pause or anything. She just yawned. "I thought that was obvious."
Speaking like she knew everything, this only frustrated him more. "I'm done with you." He wasn't the type to talk to random people, but he wanted some answers, and she had only given him more questions. He didn't even offer a goodbye as he left. At first, it continued to be quiet, until he heard footsteps other than his own. Glancing behind him, he found May following him. "What are you doing?"
"You aren't just going to leave me alone, are you?" She tilted her head to the right.
"Yeah, I am." He didn't really care. "You aren't giving me anything, so I don't need to waste my time with you." He walked away, and she kept following. No point in speaking up again. Instead, he was just going to ignore her. She wasn't worth his time.
"If you want to know what's on the other side…" She spoke up anyway, against his best wishes.
And yet he just kept walking, hands in his pockets. He wasn't going to bother to respond, because chances are, she would be sleeping during her explanation.
"I'm talking." Seems she hadn't fallen asleep again.
He stopped walking, staring straight ahead. "What." He said blankly, not really putting any tone into it. "What's on the other side?"
"Space." She answered with a yawn. "You can see the stars through the small pieces of glass, can't you?"
He had noticed that, but he just assumed it was the night sky. And that's what he was going to continue to assume. "Nice try, kid…" Whatever she had must have been contagious, because he was starting to feel tired at this very moment.
Space? What an absurd thought…
?
"Goddammit!" Echoed throughout the hallway as a man stood in front of a door. For most, a door wasn't anything problematic. Just turn the handle and you'd be fine. Unfortunately, there were two problems to be dealt with right now. For one, the door didn't have any handles. And two, even if it did, the person standing before it wouldn't be able to open it. "Who the hell makes doors like this?" He tried kicking it down, but was met with a metallic sound. "At least make it a wooden door if you're going to give it such a shitty design!"
The man in question stood at 6' exactly, and he seemed to be somewhat muscular. He had sharp eyes with small grey irises. For hair, he has a sloppy mess of hair styled in a mohawk. The hair to the side of the mohawk is brown, and was about an inch long. The rest of the mohawk was dyed blonde, so it was apparent that he hadn't dyed the new hair. Along the lower part of his face, as well as his upper chest, he had a large burn scar that had since healed up. However, it was still visible.
The most noteworthy feature of this man was that he had no hands. His arms ended shortly after his shoulders. Which could be why he would never realistically open the door. On his shoulder, he had a tan velcro bag. Around his ankle was a watch.
For clothes, he had an orange coloured jersey with some workout shorts and a pair of black soccer cleats, which made kicking the metallic door… slightly less painful.
As each attempt failed, he only got more frustrated. "Who the fuck put us here?"
"Will you shut up?" He had been in the hallway with another person, but she wasn't going to do him any good, so he had left her out of the picture.
"Excuse me…?" He slowly turned his head towards her, a bit of rage behind his eyes. "Don't tell me to shut up."
The girl was leaning against the cold wall of the hallway. She stood at 5'10" and had a rather slender build. From the looks of it, it seems she was physically active. She had long straight black hair that looked well-maintained. Her bangs were cut right above her eyebrows. She was slightly tanned and had a few small visible tattoos on her arms and neck. Hiding one of her tattoos slightly was a watch.
For her outfit, she had on a black leather jacket with silver studs and zippers. Underneath the jacket, she had black graphic t-shirt featuring a black and white portrait of her hometown, Seoul. For pants, she had on some black high waist skinny jeans. To complete the entire almost black ensemble, she had some black combat boots with silver buckles. She wore a silver chain necklace and a few silver rings, as well as a septum ring. She didn't wear much makeup, trying to keep it to a minimum, which left the only visible makeup the mascara and cat eyeliner.
"Well…" She trailed off. "Bitching won't get anything done. You aren't any closer to opening the door, bud."
"Don't call me bud." He took a few steps towards her. "And I don't see you trying anything to help out. So, how about instead of me, you shut the fuck up or go somewhere else."
She glanced away from him to look at the other end of the hallway, where she was met with almost an identical sight. A large door blocking off the rest of the hallway. "Would if I could."
"This wouldn't be a problem if you helped out. What the hell do you want me to do about any of this?" He waved his short arms around.
He had a point. She let out a small sigh, standing up straight. "Fine. I'll help." But not because he asked her to. Instead, because she also didn't want to be here with him any longer. "Give me your name."
He narrowed his eyes at her. "I don't take orders from any-"
"Name. Now." She wasn't going to ask again. "Or I can refer to you as something you might not want to be."
Well alright fine. If she was going to be so demanding, he would have to oblige. "The name is Atlas Constande. I may not look like I can be one, but I'm the Ultimate Soccer Player."
An Ultimate? Him? Now she had really seen everything. "You're right. You give the appearance of an overly frustrated soccer fan rather than a player." She glanced away from him.
"You want to say that again?" Atlas took a step forward.
Her attention was back on him. "I'm not sure what me saying it again will do, so no." She stood up straight again. "As for myself. I'm Kim Hae-Won. I'm known around as the Ultimate Tattoo Artist." She kept her hands in her pockets.
Well, had he known she was ultimate, he might have guessed that. "Whatever. Are you going to fucking help me or not?" He furrowed his brows at her.
Looking at him for a bit longer, she moved away from the wall. "Well…" She moved over towards the wall, stopping in front of a scanner. "There's this thing, not sure if you've noticed or not." She tapped at it, but it didn't respond. It didn't long for her to press the watch against it. "Shit… nothing. That was my best bet." She placed her hands back into her pocket, turning to face Atlas.
"Then what? We're just stuck here?" He leaned forward slightly. "And that's your idea of helping? You did jackshit!" He turned his attention back towards the metallic door blocking the way. Winding up his leg, he delivered another hefty one into the wall. "Fuck…" He mumbled out as his leg throbbed in pain. "Piece of shit door!"
He just didn't seem like he was going to learn his lesson, was he? "Hey, if you want to break your leg to match your arms, be my guess."
Atlas could almost feel a vein burst in his head. "You want to run that by me again?"
Looking him over once again, Hae-Won shook her head. "Just forget it." She moved back to leaning against the wall. "Whoever did this should free us eventually."
Hearing that last part, Atlas let himself slide onto the ground, leaning against the wall. "Right. Someone put us here for a reason." That's the way he was going to think about it. There was no way someone just put them here in hopes they'd starve.
Raising an eyebrow at how quickly he calmed down, Hae-Won was a bit amazed. "Right…" It didn't make continuing the conversation any easier. "It isn't a coincidence that we're both Ultimates, though." She glanced up at the ceiling. "Wonder if it's that, y'know."
"That?" It was Atlas' turn to raise an eyebrow. "I don't know what the hell you are talking about, so spit it out."
She shook her head. "Just forget it. Probably overthinking it or something." She hoped it wasn't like that at all. Why now of all times?
Getting tired of sitting down, the soccer player quickly stood up without the use of his arms. Something he had to train himself to be good at. "Well, I've rested enough." This time, he directed his kick towards the scanner on the wall. "Going to break this! See how that goes for a change."
Seeing what he was going to do, Hae-Won was going to stop him, but only got a "Wait-" out before she witnessed his foot collide with the scanner.
It didn't seem to like that one bit, and a blast sent him flying back, landing on his back. "Shit! Fucking goddammit!" He cried out in pain when he landed. "Why is everything made like this?"
"Dumbass…" She could only shake her head.
His frustration was only increasing with every passing second. "Dammit!" But still, it seemed hopeless to get out of here anytime soon. "Hey." He said rather calmly for a change. "You don't think this is that thing that happened in the past, do you?"
She raised an eyebrow to this. "The thing that happened in the past?" She knew what he was talking about. She had thought of that same thing just moments before. "Doesn't ring a bell."
He furrowed his brows. There's no way people wouldn't have heard of it, right? Then again, he only happened upon it. "The massacre with the Ultimates." He clarified.
She tilted her head to the side, trying to recall all that she had read up on it. "Could be that. But let's not make any assumptions here." She moved her hands out of her pockets. "Let's try and retrace our steps. Where does your memory end?"
That was a good question. He had been so focused on the now, that he had forgotten about his last moments. This thinking had at least calmed him down successfully. "Last thing I remember was…" He furrowed his brows. "An invitation from Hope's Peak."
"Hmm…" She glanced to the side. "Now that you mention it. I, too, had received one. Then everything seems to go blank. Wonder why."
A letter of acceptance into Hope's Peak? Lost memories? It could only lead to one thing. "Now if we can get the hell out of here, we could start figuring out some answers." He turned his focus back towards the door. "Got any bright ideas?"
She had only one. "Just wait." She let her shoulders slouch a bit; this routine was getting tiring. Her vision changed focus, instead choosing to look at the camera she had just spotted. It didn't move, but she was certain that whoever was on the other side was watching her right now. They couldn't keep them there forever.
?
"Get up." The voice of a girl could be heard, but there was no response. "Hey. I know you're alive. I checked your pulse. No way someone would be out this long. Hey! I said get up!" She ordered a little more forcefully this time. Still… Nothing. "Unbelievable…" The girl looked around the room she was currently trapped in. There seemed to be a decent amount of cleaning supplies. Which didn't do her any good at this time.
The girl stood at 5'6". She had a curvy hourglass figure and stood with a demeanour granting authority. Her eyes were unblinking, glancing around the room like a hawk. She was gifted with heterochromia, with her left eye being pale grey, and her right one being black. To match that, she had long hair that almost reached the floor. Her hair split into two, with one side being black, and the other being dyed white. The black hair was on the same side as the black coloured eye. They were tied into long sleek twin tails with the two colours fully separated. The entire time as she scanned the room, she had a stern expression on her face.
Matching her hair and eyes, her outfit was also exclusively in black and white too. She wore a white blouse with a black ascot and exposed shoulders, a black high-waist suspender skirt, black-and-white striped stocking with garter straps. Over her main clothes, she had a black off-shoulder jacket that hung off her arms. She wore a pair of gloves, with one being white and the other being black. They corresponded with the same side her hair and eyes were on. On the arm with the black glove, was a watch of the same colour. Her platform boots would match the same pattern as the rest of her attire. For accessories, she had a steel whistle on a chain around her neck.
She closed one eye as she continued to scan the room. "I don't recognize this place. And I doubt I've done anything to piss them off." She crossed her arms, before turning her attention back to the boy who was on the ground. He was rather tall from the looks of it.
Grabbing her whistle, she inhaled before whistling to attempt to get him awake.
That seemed to do the trick, and the boy quickly got up. "H-huh?" A bit panicked, he looked around the room. "W-where am I…?"
"About time you woke up." The girl pointed at him with her black glove. "I thought you'd be asleep forever." She opened her eye only to close the other.
The tall boy took a step back. "W-who are you…?" He eyed the girl cautiously before switching his gaze over to the room itself. He didn't recognize where he was.
The man stood tall at 6'2". He had a rather muscular and broad build. On first inspection, one might think he was some kind of lumberjack with the way he looked. He had knee-length wavy coal black with the middle part swept to the side bangs. Two strands hung in the middle, and he also had a large braided ponytail with orange highlights at the tip of it. Those same orange highlights were visible on his bangs. He had almond shaped pink eyes that made him look like he was frowning. Across his right eyelid, he had a scar that connected his cheek and eyebrow. Through the visible part of his torso, a few faded scars from various things could be seen. These scars were also visible on his arms and his legs. He also had two grey stud lip piercings.
For his outfit, he wore a dark red plaid dress shirt with a white trim on the collar, hem, and cuff. The right side of his shirt was tucked in while the other side remained untucked. Lastly for the shirt, the right sleeve was rolled up, contrasting the left side which was left normal. For his right arm, a watch was visible.
Hanging loose on his right shoulder, he wore a red and black sport bomber hoodie jacket. His jeans were black with a few rips in them around the knees. Keeping it fastened to his waste was a brown leather belt with a silver buckle. He wore a black strap that connected his chocker to his belt. He wore black and white mountain boots with dark red laces. Finally, he wore large round red tinted sunglasses with a red rim right over his head.
Having not been given an answer, the boy attempted again. "W-who are you?"
Inspecting him for a few seconds, the girl let out a sigh, not changing her demeanour once. "Here I thought you might have been the one to put me here, but it seems not."
"Wait… y-you don't know where we are… either?" He shook a bit nervously, before finding a chair he can sit down in.
"Why would I know where we are?" She closed one of her eyes. "I'm in the same situation as you." She pointed over to him with her white glove.
With how she was being, the man was having a hard time keeping up the conversation. "W-Well…" He wasn't sure what to even say. He had so many questions, and she didn't seem capable of answering any of them.
On the other hand, the girl also found it difficult to hold a conversation with him. For an entirely different reason. "Are you going to say anything else?" She did a motion with her hand, before placing it on her hip. She needed to figure out what was happening quickly, because she didn't intend on staying here all day. The only problem was the door itself… No handle, so no way out. "Help me find a way out of here."
The man quickly stood up from his chair. "I… Don't know where to… start…" Sure, there were a lot of cleaning supplies, but what good did that do for them.
The girl didn't say anything in return. Instead, she opted to just stare at him.
The only way he took this was that he must have said something wrong. "I- I didn't do anything… wrong did I?" Maybe he was reading too much into it, but he didn't want to take any chances.
"What's your name?" The girl finally asked him. "When people meet each other, they introduce themselves, don't they?" She pointed at him with her glove.
"H-Huh- Yeah!" How could he forget to introduce himself? His father taught him better than that! Trying to stand up straight, he tried to introduce himself. Entirely looking at the floor. "I-I'm Benoît Chevalier. And I'm… I'm the Ultimate Physiotherapist. I work to make sure people can get through physical pain."
She knew what a physiotherapist was. She didn't need him to go into detail. She spent a decent amount of time thinking with one eye closed. His mannerism really didn't match the way he looked. "I guess I shouldn't just expect you to introduce yourself while I remain silent." She grabbed onto the whistle around her neck, but didn't intend to blow on it. "I'm Giustina Giulio, but please just call me Gigi." It was much simpler that way. "And I've made myself known as the Ultimate Referee." She closed her other eye.
An Ultimate Referee. "For… what sport?" That felt like important knowledge.
"For any sport." She pointed at him. "It doesn't even have to be a sport. I can referee anything."
Well this certainly was a formidable person standing right in front of him. "H-huh, well…" Compared to him, she could do so much. "You must have worked… really hard to get here."
She crossed her arms, tilting her head to the side. "Obviously." She was an Ultimate, after all. It was almost a given that she would have needed to work hard to get here. "That applies to all Ultimates."
"Huh… Well…" He fidgeted around nervously. "I wouldn't say… I worked too hard to become an Ultimate. I honestly just got… lucky." Well… "Not exactly lucky, but unlucky…" It was hard to figure out the right term with it. He got unlucky, and then got lucky.
He was a weird case, this one. She closed one eye, before turning towards the door. "I looked around, and this seems to be the only way out." She gestured towards the door. "You seem strong enough, do you think you could try and break the door down?"
"Huh?" Well that wasn't a request he had been expecting. Taking a cautious step towards the door, he shook his head. "It's not made of metal, s-so I doubt I could actually break through it." He rubbed his arms, mostly noticeably the scars he had. "I'd probably… just add onto the pile."
Closing one eye, Gigi placed a hand on her hip. "I was joking." She did not give off that vibe in the slightest. She moved over to the door, knocking on it. Yup. Metal. Just to double check. "The only thing we can really do now is wait for it to open on its own." She opened her eyes only to close the other one. Then, she turned her attention back over to Benoit. "I'm not sure why we're both here, given that we have no connections to each other. Unless you think you've done something wrong to get someone's attention."
"N-no… I don't think that… I did that." But now his mind began to race through all the possibilities. He couldn't prove that he didn't do something wrong. Maybe he had angered someone without knowing, and this is why he ended up in this situation. "Maybe I did…" He finally concluded. "There was a time I think I spoke too much with a client, and they didn't appreciate it."
That's not exactly what she meant, so she could at least discount that idea for now. "Nevermind." Changing her focus back to the door, she stared at it with an intense focus, almost like she wanted to will it open. But it wouldn't work like that. "There might be a way to open it hidden around the room somewhere." She moved her hand off her hip, before pointing over at Benoit with her white glove. "Help me look."
His eyes twitched as he looked around the various cleaning chemicals. "I'm not sure how much we should move these around… If they spill they might end up burning."
Well since he wasn't going to be of any help, she took the initiative. "Then I shall do it myself."
That wasn't any good either, because he couldn't just let her hurt herself. "W-wait!" He took a step forward. "Fine, I'll help."
With a new goal in mind, the two began sorting through the various containers in the room, praying to find a way out of this mess.
?
For once, the atmosphere around wasn't cold and dark. It felt almost… welcoming. Key word here being almost.
"Ugh…" The voice of a man rang out as he slowly stumbled to his feet, leaning against the wall. "What…" His eyes focused around the area, trying his best to familiarise himself with his location. From the looks of it, he seemed to be in a bedroom of sorts. "This isn't my house…" He noted. Although that was very much obvious.
However, realisation struck once he realised the implication of him not waking up in his own house. "No… it couldn't be…" The myriads of ideas that went through his head right now were astronomical, but they all had one common denominator. "It's them… Isn't it…" It was the only explanation that made sense. All the digging he's done… it finally came to bite him in the ass. "Alright, alright…" He took a step back from the wall. "It's too soon to think that." And yet it's all that was happening in his head.
He had to stay calm and collected. He could not let himself fall to paranoia. He took a moment to recollect himself.
The man stood at about 5'10". He had tanned skin, maybe from all the time he spent outside. He had dark brown hair kept at a medium length. It seemed a little unkempt, almost as if he was generally untidy in nature. His sharp blue, forever focused eyes did one sweep of the entire room, eventually falling on one thing in particular. But that wasn't important right now.
Covering his eyes, he had a pair of thin-framed glasses that only further drove home how academic he looked. He had a hint of stubble on his chin, giving him a more rugged appearance.
His outfit seemed to reflect his demeanour. He wore a plain dark-coloured t-shirt. Although there was a design on the shirt, showing a large footprint that could only belong to Big-Foot. He wore a pair of dark jeans. Over his t-shirt, he had on a well-worn light brown jacket that added a layer of ruggedness to his appearance. On the jacket, there were several different pins, patches, and even badges. Each seemed to be related to a different conspiracy theory. Some of them had cryptic symbols, while others seemed more down to earth, referring to historical events.
Lastly, for shoes, he had some comfortable looking dark brown sneakers that seemed to have gone through some things. They weren't in awful conditions, but it was clear this man had gone out a lot, and put them to good use.
Now, back to what his eyes had focused on earlier. His eyes didn't move an inch as he was transfixed on the other person in the room. His mind had spiraled down the last several minutes that he had completely forgotten to even take a look at the ground.
There was a woman, out cold. "Hello, ma'am." He approached her, unsure on how he should handle this. Several different thoughts moved into his head, but he only listened to one of them. Placing a hand on her shoulder, he attempted to wake her up.
And it worked, only a few seconds later, she began to stir. "Hmm…" In an instance, her eyes shot wide open, getting up on her feet. "Who are you?" She called out.
The boy, in a state of shock, fell back onto the floor. He raised his hands in his defense. "I didn't do anything!" His eyes scanned the room. "I found you passed out in here after I woke up."
She dusted herself off before taking a better look. She didn't see any visible injuries on herself, so it's unlikely he had hurt her. And yet, the amount of trust she felt in him was abysmal.
As for her appearance, she stood tall at exactly 6'0". She had light brown skin. She had a robust build, developed from years of regular training. The way she stood gave her an air of authority, especially with her broad shoulders and defined muscles. She had short-cropped black hair that was trimmed neatly. Her sharp hazel eyes were currently locked on the boy. She had a few scars on her right cheek.
For her uniform, she wore a standard-issue dark navy blue uniform with an embroidered badge on her chest. This uniform included some cargo pants, as well as some sturdy black boots which were polished to perfection. Around her waist, she wore a utility belt with various tools. She had a flashlight, handcuffs, a two-way radio, a small first aid kit, and lastly, a baton.
After staring at the boy for a while longer, she spoke up again. "State your name."
"R-right!" The boy didn't want her to suddenly attack him, because that was a losing fight. Coughing a few times to clear his throat, he spoke up. "I'm Alan Buteaux." He introduced himself, although he felt like that might be a bit basic, so he decided to build it on. "As for what I do, I'm quite proud of my title as the Ultimate Conspiracy Theorist."
The girl looked at him for a few seconds, her expression unchanging. "Oh." She finally spoke up. "You're one of those people."
"H-huh?" His face paled up. "What do you mean by that?"
She crossed her arms, frowning slightly. "One of those crazy people, right?"
Well he wasn't going to take that. "Just because I see connections where others don't, doesn't mean I'm crazy." He adjusted his glasses. "It just means others aren't as well trained as I am."
"Training…" She trailed off, shaking her head. "That's not what the word means. See, I've done training." She pointed to herself. "What you've done is nothing comparable."
Still, he wasn't going to back down, especially when it came to his theories. "Mental training is still training. Just think of the brain as another muscle that needs exercise." That's the best way he could put it into words.
Well, the girl thought he was very clearly wrong, so she wasn't going to pursue him on the matter anymore. "If you say so." But then that meant it was time to introduce herself. "Sakura Gambino." She got straight to the point with her name. "And unlike you, mine is a talent that actually matters. Ultimate Security Guard." Keeping it nice and simple again. "You better not let me catch you doing anything suspicious."
Well, the thought hadn't crossed his mind while here, but now his mind was wandering. "I don't think revealing the truth is suspicious. And if someone thinks it is, then they have things to hide too."
"Well, what's your current theory on where we are right now?" Sakura crossed her arms, looking around.
Well, it didn't take a genius to figure that out. "We appear to be in a bedroom." He noticed the bed, the dresser, the lamp, and various other things.
The security guard narrowed her eyes. "A bedroom, huh? Are you sure you didn't do anything?"
"N-no! Nothing!" He had better things to do. He moved over to the door to examine the door. "Hmm…" There seemed to be a scanner of sorts, but they didn't have anything on them to scan. And there weren't any handles to open the door.
Well… he didn't have anything, but… He turned to look at Sakura. "Do you have anything we can use here?"
"No? Why would I?" She wasn't being very helpful.
Letting out a sigh, he moved away from the door. "This is why…" He trailed off. He would say why he works alone, but this wasn't the best part. He turned his attention back to her. "Can you help me look around?" Two minds were greater than one.
Although, as soon as she started, he realised just how pointless it would be. "The only other way to leave this room is through this door." She opened it to reveal a bathroom. Shower not included. "So let's just brute force our way through the other door."
Well, that could be a good idea. Alan moved back to the door, knocking on it a few times. "It seems sturdy… but with enough force, we could probably bust it open." He brought a hand to his chin. "We'd just need to find something with enough for-"
BAM!
He had stopped talking mid sentence, only to see Sakura attempt to tackle the door down. "What are you doing?" He was more impressed that she even attempted that. Not only that, but she came out unscathed.
"I've busted down doors before." She crossed her arms. "But this one doesn't seem like it'll budge."
"Hmm…" Alan tilted his head to the side. "It's possibly because the door is mechanical. I don't think it has a lock we can break." Which meant they might not actually be able to do anything. But that didn't mean he wasn't going to try. "However… we could try and overload the lock." He thought for a moment. They had access to a bathroom. "Maybe water will make it short circuit?" He suggested.
"Wouldn't that just prevent us from ever opening it?" Sakura raised an eyebrow.
He shook his head. "No. I don't think so. For safety reasons, I'm willing to believe these types of doors will open up to prevent someone from getting trapped."
She wasn't convinced. "But it's just as likely these doors will stay locked in order to protect what's inside."
Oh! Now this was getting his mind turning. "Yes, that's quite possible too." That just meant he had to think harder about all the possibilities. "If we can figure out what kind of door this is, our job will be easier." Not much he could do from here, though. He took one last look at the door, but couldn't find some notable features.
Stepping away from the door, he slowly backed up until he sat down on the bed. "Hmm… He hummed out in thought too, letting his mind wander around again. "You know…" He trailed off, slowly looking over at Sakura. "Why… are we here?" He had asked that question earlier, but the conversation with her had completely thrown him off. "Who put us here?" He must have pissed someone off, right? That's what he thought earlier.
Sensing the tangent he was going to go on, Sakura put an end to that early. "Thinking about it now won't do us any good. Whatever reason you might think, I think I'm uninvolved. Besides, we're still alive. Alive and unharmed." But not unarmed! (Well, unless you're Atlas)
She raised some good points. Letting out a sigh, he turned to face the wall. "Doesn't mean I should stop thinking…" Pulling out a pencil, he began to scribble some words on the wall. "Instead, I'll write down my thoughts." It was better than nothing, and if he didn't do anything, his thoughts would slowly consume him.
Sakura watched him for a couple more seconds before shaking her head. Best to leave him to his devices. Eventually, the door would open.
?
Almost as if waiting for something, Edison and Seira heard the sound of a door sliding open.
"Huh?" The astrologist turned her attention over to the sound. "It… opened…?" At the same time, the lights flickered open.
The chemist adjusted his goggles. "Seems we finally have power, and we can leave now."
Still, there was a lot of uncertainty in the air. Just where exactly were they? "Do you think it's safe to leave?" She didn't want to leave, but she also didn't want to throw herself into danger.
"Hypothetically…" He shook the flask he had. "We have no way of knowing until we leave." He put the flask away, walking over to the door. "The only thing we can do now is leave."
Fidgeting with the Taurus ring she had, she followed behind. "Still, I think we should be careful." That's what the stars said, anyways.
The hallway seemed circular. "What an odd place…" Edison stepped fully out of the room, looking both directions. "It almost seems like a sort of laboratory…"
"Is this… like a place you've worked?" Seira was really out of her element right here, so she found it best to follow after Edison's lead.
Inspecting his flask, he shook his head. "Nothing like this." Putting it away, he took a step forward, intent on heading right from the room.
However, a sound coming from the opposite end stopped him in his tracks.
The sound of someone running… and… yelling?
Quickly turned to that direction, he saw a rather angry looking man running down the hallway. In fact, he ran past the two of them before stopping completely. For a moment, he calmed down completely, before his attention shifted to the two people. "And who are you?" He only turned his head to look at them, not even bothering turning his body to face them. It was Atlas.
"You-your…" Seria wanted to point out the obvious, but she realised it was in bad taste, so she remained silent.
"What happened to your arms?" Edison wasn't as bright.
That was just more fuel to the fire. "What does it matter to you, shorty?"
"S-short?" Well now the chemist was angry too. "Who are you calling short?" He took a step forward.
"Knock it off." Hae-Won called out, having finally caught up. "Now's not the time for this."
Seira let out a sigh of relief. Finally, someone at least reasonable. "Are you in the same situation as us?"
"Having no idea why we're here?" Her eyes looked off to the right. "Pretty much. Woke up in the hallway with this lunatic here."
Thankfully Atlas hadn't heard her. Instead, he was still talking with Edison. "I was born this way, alright?"
"Well!" The chemist had no rebuttal to that. "So was I! If I could change, I would."
Hae-Won shook her head, seeing the scene in front of her unfold. "Boys." She walked over to the two of them. "We have more pressing matters right now. We need to figure out where we are."
That seemed to get the two of them to stop for the time being.
"Hey." Seira called out as she approached the three of them. "Where did you wake up?"
Nowhere interesting. "The hallway." She glanced to the side, noticing the room that was there. "Seems you woke up in a room. Would have been better if that's where we woke up." Maybe she could have actually sat down somewhere. But now wasn't the time. "Guessing there isn't a map for this place." That would help to at least figure out their next move.
"Well!" Edison adjusted his goggles. "If we keep going this way, we're bound to find some new rooms." He trailed off, when he remembered the shape of the hallway. "Or this is just an elaborate circle…" That wouldn't be great.
A small smile formed on Hae-Won. "Well, if we go in a circle, I can point out where he messed up." She nudged her head in Atlas' direction.
"How about you shut up for once." They didn't need to know about any of that.
"I wonder…" Edison trailed off as he found himself growing deep in thought. "Are there more people here that we don't know of?"
Seria moved her bracelets around. "Possibly." She scanned the surrounding area. It seemed rather large, so there could be countless other people.
"Won't know till we find them." Hae-Won pointed out as she continued down the hallway. "Personally I'm not sure how I'd feel about more people here. This doesn't seem like the best situation to be in."
Seira nodded her head. "Right. Unless Hope's Peak is responsible, I don't want more people here."
"You guys are Ultimates too?" Atlas was a bit surprised, but it made sense, given Hae-Won here. "What the hell is Hope's Peak doing?
"Hmm…" Edison hummed out. "I think I see another door up ahead."
That snapped everyone else out of their conversation.
On the inner part of the circle, there was a weird looking door. It was still closed, but there was a keypad to the side of it. "Let's go." Seria was the first to run off to go see what it was.
?
The sound of the door opening alerted Gigi and Benoit, who had stopped talking to each other for a while now.
"Finally." The referee moved over to the door, peeking out into the hallway. "Seems like they've seen it fit to let us out." Without much fear, she stepped right out into the hallway.
"S-shouldn't we check to see if it's safe?" Benoit pointed out, staying exactly where he was.
She closed her right eye. "Why does it matter? It's a hallway." She extended her hand with the white glove. "Just get out of there."
Slowly, he stood up from the chair he had been sitting on. He slowly peeked his head out before noting that it seemed relatively safe. "Alright…" He stepped out fully into the hallway.
The hallway was the same one as the one seen before by other people. It was also circular.
"Hmm…" Gigi placed a hand on her hip, closing her other eye. "Doesn't really matter which way we go." So for that reason, she went left from the room they were in.
All while Benoit followed closely behind, choosing to remain silent.
After a bit of walking, they would eventually come to a split path, on one path, the hallway continued to circle around. As for the other path, it seemed to lead to a large circular door. However, something else caught their eyes. Two people.
They would encounter both May and Dae-Hyun down this path. To get their attention, Gigi took her whistle and blew into it.
This snapped May out of her trance. "Quiet!" She called out, almost falling to the ground.
The talent manager made no effort to try and catch her, instead turning his head to look at the two newcomers. "And you are…?" He trailed off.
Gigi could reintroduce herself, but she felt like it would be better suited for after they figure out what the full group is. "That can be saved for later." She let go of her whistle, letting it plop against her. "Our biggest concern right now is finding out where we are."
Well, Dae-Hyun had an idea, but given that it was a dumb idea based on nothing, he decided not to bring it up. "Did you come from one of the rooms?"
"Y-yes…" Benoit spoke up. "There were cleaning supplies."
That didn't help any, so the talent manager just ran a hand through his hair. "Great." He turned his focus back to the way he was going. "Then let's continue this way." He pointed out. "I'm sure we're bound to find something new."
"This hallway is probably a large circle." Gigi noted. "I'm more curious about what we are circling."
"Hell if I know." He shook his head. "Just follow along."
As the two duos turned quarter began to walk down the hall, Gigi was the first to speak up. "Is she alright?" She pointed her white glove at May.
Dae-Hyun didn't even bother looking at her. "She's been like that the entire time. Hard to tell if she's actually sleeping or if she's just pretending."
"I'm awake…" She said softly. "I can't really walk and sleep at the same time."
"Could have fooled me…" He shook his head. Then, he turned his attention to behind the group, where Benoit was walking. "What about you big guy? You aren't going to walk alongside us?"
Noticing that he had been spoken to, he directed his attention over to Dae-Hyun, before averting his eyes. "Huh… no. I think it's best if I- if I stay back here."
Fine by him, last time he showed some ounce of concern. "Alright." He stuck his hands in his pockets. He scanned the area again, and finally noticed something in the distance. "Hmm?" There seemed to be a weird door, and not just that, but he saw another group of people there. "Hey." He said to the group he was with. He stopped walking, mostly to inspect what the four were doing.
This got all of their attention as they looked forward.
Having the best eyes of the quartet (probably), Gigi spoke up first. "They seem to be in front of an elevator."
Ah. Elevator. Elevators don't belong in space… probably.
Pointing her white glove towards the group, she spoke up. "No point in standing around here, let's go see who they are." They were more than likely in the same situation as them.
Dae-Hyun watched her walk off before turning his attention to the other two people here. They didn't seem likely to go on their own. "You can either join us, or leave."
For a moment, Benoit didn't move. It was nice to be able to see more people, but he still found things to worry about. However, he knew that standing there wouldn't accomplish anything. "I'll go…" He mumbled out as he began to step forward.
That left May on her own. And for once, she actually had her eyes open. And she wasn't daydreaming either. She seemed aware of her surroundings. "Don't worry… I'm going." She examined the group one by one. "Just… trying to remember a dream, is all." She rubbed her eyes before walking forward.
With that, the two groups of four had united in front of the strange door.
?
After brainstorming several different ideas on how to get out, as well as theories on what could be happening, it would all be for naught when the door opened up. "Huh?" Alan looked over towards the door. "Did you do something?"
Sakura raised an eyebrow, turning her attention towards the door. "No. It just did that on itself. I think whoever did this is letting us out." She stepped closer to the door, stopping right before leaving. "Are you coming?"
Quickly looking at all the stuff he wrote down, he let out a sigh. "Right, right." He could work on all of that later.
When the two stepped out of the room, the first thing they heard was chatter. "Hmm?" The theorist turned his attention towards the source of the sound. "Hey, there's another group here." He pointed out.
"Eight other people…" Sakura commented, seeing the rest of the people here. "Quickly, let's go."
She didn't need to tell him twice. "Hey!" He called out, waving his hand. He didn't want to talk to such a large group, but at least letting their presence known would be beneficial.
…
…
…
…
…
Now that they were all here, the group could all begin to talk.
"Let me guess." Edison was the first one to speak up, shaking the contents of his flask. "All Ultimates?" No point beating around the bush with this one.
"Yes…" Dae-Hyun covered his mouth. Hopefully everyone else would be better to deal with.
The first person to bother inspecting the door was Seira, who approached the keypad on the side. "It looks like… an elevator." She noted, a small smile forming on her face. "They have star symbols."
"Star symbols…?" The talent manager mumbled out. "From what she told me." He pointed over towards the sleeping May. "This place has something to do with space."
"Space?" That seemed to interest the astrologist for some reason.
"W-wait… Like we're in space?" Benoit pointed out. "How did t-that happen?"
Gigi shook her head. "Don't be stupid. They didn't say in space. They said something to do with space. I can't fathom they'd put us in space."
"Who would even do something like this…" Dae-Hyun hummed out. He was hoping the others would do the thinking for him, and he could coast along by just asking questions.
Edison thought for a moment. "Well, if we're all Ultimates. Scientifically, doesn't it make sense for Hope's Peak to be behind it?"
"Not so sure, bud." Hae-Won spoke up. "I don't trust any of this for one moment. I have a feeling something bad is about to happen."
"B-bad?" Benoit mumbled out. He looked around the place, cautiously. There didn't seem to be any danger at the moment, but the looming threat…
A loud sigh could be heard. When everyone looked in the direction it was from, May had begun to rub her eyes. "Obviously something bad has happened…" She trailed off, before ultimately realising it's not worth her time. "Just open the elevator or something…"
"Right…" As the one standing next to it the entire time, Seira pressed the button on the elevator.
The doors didn't open for some time. But they could hear the slow sound of something moving on the other side. Eventually, the silence was broken by the sound of dinging. The elevator opened its doors for all to enter.
Except, there was already something inside the elevator, waiting for them.
"Took you guys long enough." The voice called out.
Everyone but May took a step back, but even she was dragged back by Benoit in an attempt to keep her safe.
Staring back at them, was a floating animal. Or, calling it an animal wasn't exactly the truth. It looked like an animal, but it was obvious it wasn't one. It looked too robotic. The animal it resembled was a river otter, although it had a more sinister look to it. This was due in part to its red ragged eye on the left that seemed to glow menacingly. It had two sharp fangs protruding from its mouth. Its body was divided in two, with the left side being black, and the right side being white. Its stomach was round and separate from the divide that the rest of the body had. It had a more beige look to it. Its front paws had a few claws sticking out, while the back paws had nothing.
"What-" Alan took a step back out of fear. "I've never seen anything like that."
Sakura took a step forward. "I could probably bash it's head in." She grabbed onto her baton.
While that would be nice, the conspiracy theorist could easily figure out why this would be a bad idea. "We don't know what it can do, so don't try and fight it." He grabbed onto her arm.
That seemed to stop her from the time being.
"What's the matter?" The otter floated around the group. "Never seen an otter before?"
"None that floated-" Seira mumbled out, before stopping when it looked directly at her.
The otter slowly floating towards her, its red eye glowing. "Is there a problem with how I move around?"
"H-huh…" She paled up
The otter began to laugh before leaning back. "I'm just messin with ya." He placed its front paws behind its head, floating away. He spun around the group a bit, before adjusting himself to be upright. "Now, what do we have here?" He examined the entire group one by one.
"Are you the reason we're here?" Dae-Hyun got straight to the point. He didn't have time to play whatever games this otter wanted to.
"Hmm…" It hummed out in thought. "Something like that!" He floated back, creating some distance between the group. "But is that really important?"
"I- Yes!" Seira took a step forward. "What are we doing here?"
"Good question!" …
"..."
"..."
Since nobody else was speaking up, she decided to ask the next question. "Are you going to elab-"
"No!"
Seems getting answers from this thing was going to be pointless.
Maybe asking an easier question would get some results. "And what can we call you?" Hae-Won asked, hoping for a different result.
And she was blessed, because the otter responded. "You can call me… Monokawa."
"Can we call you anything else?" Atlas didn't like the name.
"Sure, whatever floats your boat, I don't care." Monokawa shrugged, floating around like a boat.
The first person to take the opportunity was Edison. "Lontra canadensis."
The otter stopped floating around aimlessly and sat back up. "That's like calling me an otter but with extra steps."
"A river otter with extra steps." He corrected.
However, the others had wasted enough time. Gigi wanted some answers, and there were still questions that weren't asked. "Where are we?"
Floating over towards her, Monokawa orbited around her. "Curious. I thought you'd all have been told by now."
Well, the only location that had been brought up was… "Space?" Benoit repeated from earlier. "But… How did we get here?" He would have some memories of getting to space.
"The how doesn't matter." Monokawa stopped hovering around Gigi, and instead floated above the rest of the group, looking down at all of them. "The most important part is why. But… I'm not the person who needs to answer that." He turned his focus towards the elevator that he came out of. "You'll find the person in question down there."
And yet none of them moved an inch.
"Hmm?" The otter tilted his body to the side, causing him to spin around. "What's wrong? The elevator is safe. Trust me, I just took it."
"The… G-Ground won't open up, will it?" Benoit was still choosing to take it cautiously.
"I… What?" Monokawa raised a metaphorical eyebrow. "No. You won't fall through."
The first person to step up onto the elevator was Hae-Won. She kept her hands in her pockets, and glanced at the other people. "Come on, aren't you going to get on? See? Didn't fall through."
After a bit of silence, the next person stepped on. "Hypothetically speaking…" The chemist began to say. "We won't find out anything if we just stand around here."
"Let's just get on." Sakura placed a hand on her hip, shaking her head.
Meanwhile, Alan wasn't so sure about this entire thing. "Still, I don't think we should be listening to floating otters…" He began to mumble out some things.
Not wanting to wait for his decision, the security guard grabbed him by the shirt collar and dragged him into the elevator.
"Wai!" He cried out. "You don't know what they'll do to us!" He didn't either, but he didn't want to find out!
One by one, everyone slowly joined into the elevator, leaving only two people not on. Monokawa himself, and May, who had both her eyes closed.
Floating around her, curiously, the otter spoke up. "Aren't you going to join the others? I know you heard what was going on?"
Opening one of her eyes, she glanced around to locate the floating animal. When she finally spotted him, she followed him with her eyes. "I'll just catch the next one… It's a bit too noisy…" She mumbled out, looking at all the people on the elevator.
Well, no need to keep everyone else waiting. Quickly swooping down like a bat out of hell, Monokawa was able to lift up May and drop her directly into the elevator.
"H-hey!" She had no time to cushion her fall, and hit the ground.
Seira was the first to check if she was alright. "There was no reason to do that!" She looked over at the otter, who had joined them now in the elevator.
He placed his paws behind his head. "No, I guess not. But I don't want to keep her waiting. She should be done talking to the other group." He pressed the down button with his tail. "Time to make our grand entrance!" The doors slowly closed, and the elevator came to life as it slowly descended towards the lower floor.
"Other group…?" Hae-Won mumbled out. She didn't like the sound of that. "There are others?"
Edison shook his flask again, changing the colour to a purple. "All most likely Ultimates…" He trailed off, not sure if he liked the idea that much. Adjusting his goggles, he put the flask away. "What are we really in for?"
There was silence in the room as everyone awaited an answer from Monokawa, who just looked down at the group. He had stated multiple times he wasn't going to tell them. So, instead, he turned to look the other way, leaving them with the humming of the elevator.
"Hey!" Gigi called out, closing one of her eyes. "We have a right to know."
Still. Nothing.
Hae-Won was the one to break the silence. "Just wait till we get to the bottom and stop bitching. He clearly won't tell us, so."
"Like hell." Atlas moved directly under where Monokawa was. "If he doesn't want to tell us, we'll just have to beat it out of him!"
"I'd advise against that." But it wasn't Monokawa who said that. Instead, it was May. "If you do anything like that, I'm sure he'll kill you."
Kill him? "Ha! The fucker can certainly try!" He examined the area around him. The otter wasn't floating too high, so he could probably use the wall of the elevator to his advantage. He couldn't grab onto him, but a swift kick should land him on the ground. Before he got the chance to do so, Gigi grabbed onto his shoulder. "Hey!"
Her attention wasn't on him. Instead, it was on May. "How can you be so sure?"
"Hmm?" Oh, she hadn't expected a follow up. "Isn't it obvious? Have you looked at him? Or the name?"
"Mono…" Hae-Won mumbled out. "Let's not mess with this thing. Seems like it'd turn to shit pretty easily."
With several different people warning him not to, and with the threat of death looming over, Atlas backed away. "Fine…" He mumbled out, looking away. "How much longer?" He had moved onto the next thing to complain about.
"A few seconds." Now that was a question that Monokawa could answer! "If we go too quickly, we'll make noise and ruin the surprise. Besides, we have to get the timing right."
"Timing?" Gigi raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying it's all been planned down to the second?"
He spun around to face them. "Something like that. I can't really give details."
Before anyone else could raise any other questions, the elevator stopped, and a dinging sound could be heard.
"Here we are!" Monokawa turned to face the door as it opened up. "Get ready…"
As the door opened, it revealed with it the rest of the group that had found itself here…
And that's it for the first part of the prologue! Originally I was just going to do one part and call it a day, but because Gold wrote three parts for the prologue of Twisted Tragedy (Go read, by the way), I decided to extend this to two parts! Which really allowed me a little more freedom with writing scenes, since I could make them a little longer to show off the personalities of the characters a bit more.
It's my first time writing an SYOC, so it might take some getting used to nail the voices of the characters. If I made any form of mistake, please feel free to correct me on them. Just me nice :D I'm very fragile.
Also as some people have guessed, I was going to divide the prologue into truths and ideals. Just felt better that way in the long run, keep them separate and then have them meet in the middle.
On the bright side, I got to introduce Monokawa in this part, and he was fun to write, so I hope people enjoy him as much as I did! :D Probably not as great as another Monomascot… glances at Monoyena but I think he's neat!
And if you haven't already, I'll say it again! Read Corrupted Hope and Twisted Tragedy from SilverMark16
Ultimates Revealed: 10
Edison Thompton - The Ultimate Chemist [SilverMark16]
Seira Natsume - The Ultimate Astrologist [WolfieRed23]
Benoit Chevalier - The Ultimate Physiotherapist [Epifanio Therion]
Giustina "Gigi" Giulio - The Ultimate Referee [Nekoja]
Alan Buteaux - The Ultimate Conspiracy Theorist [zendroxp]
Kim Dae-Hyun - The Ultimate Talent Manager [oddlyillregular]
May Summers - The Ultimate Academic Prodigy [KadachiNova]
Atlas Constande - The Ultimate Soccer Player [ComplicatedYetSimple]
Kim Hae-Won - The Ultimate Tattoo Artist [Weekaro]
Sakura Gambino - The Ultimate Security Guard [PROJECT DRAMA]