Prologue: A World of Laughs and Tears (Part 3)
Warning: This fic contains intense violence, lots of cursing, character death, gore and blood, sexual innuendos (thanks Maggi- Wait. You're not even in this fic. Meaning there are no sexual innuendos!... Maybe! Hooray!), and possible spoilers for the Danganronpa series. But hey, everyone lurking in this fandom has at least played the first Danganronpa so no need to worry much there! Right?
MEGA WARNING: IF YOU GET OFFENDED OR UNCOMFORTABLE EASILY, YOU CAN CLOSE THIS TAB AND READ SOMETHING ELSE OR GO AT A VERY CAREFUL AND STEADY PACE! IT'S YOUR CHOICE BUT PLEASE BE AWARE THAT SOME THINGS THAT WILL BE SAID WILL BE VERY DISPLEASING TO THE EYES AND EARS!
With that said, please enjoy!
Static.
...
Stanczyk says!
Stanczyk does!
Stanczyk plays…
With all of us!
Let's all smile and throw a cheer!
Because Mr. Stanczyk is here!
A jester-like figure popped up with the happiest grin on his face. With his jester-mask attached to his face and looking directly toward his audience, he was proud enough to extend his arms out and giggle profusely.
"Hello boys and girls!" the jester grinned with an innocent-sounding voice. "It's me, your best friend, Stanczyk, interrupting this episode of Stanczyk Says, with a very important and special announcement!"
The jester known as Stanczyk seemed ready to explode in excitement.
"You are all invited to the Grand Opening of my newest theme park, Piero's Playground!" Stanczyk announced as his grin widened. "A family-friendly place where you and your friends can enjoy an entire days' worth of adventure including…"
Images began popping up.
"...Thrilling rides!"
A roller coaster.
"...Delicious foods!"
A large pie of pizza.
"...And exciting live entertainment!"
Fireworks.
Stanczyk squealed in joy.
"You also get the chance to meet yours truly!" Stanczyk grinned as he pointed to himself. "For a very special Meet and Greet photo-op, only here at Piero's Playground!"
Stanczyk looked practically giddy about everything he had just announced.
"Ohhhh!" Stanczyk exclaimed. "I can't wait! We're going to have so much fun together!"
'PIERO'S PLAYGROUND'
'WELCOMING YOU ALL'
'THIS SUMMER!'
'Sponsored to you by the Towa Group. Making sure there's enough happy and fun for everyone!'
"Come on kids!" Stanczyk continued with that never-ending grin of his. "Ask your parents! Buy your tickets! And come meet me here at Piero's Playground! What do you say? Best friends to the en-"
...
Static.
…
…
…
"Ngh…"
When Alvin opened his eyes, he expected to find himself in the Infirmary. The window blinds would've been open, allowing the sun to radiate onto his Infirmary bed. He imagined that the nurse would come in with an exceedingly worried Mabel, who would tell him that he simply passed out. That he was just too excited to start his day and just… fell unconscious. That he and his students were going to be okay. That… they were alright…
…
Except, Alvin didn't wake up to the sun radiating on him but rather to darkness. His eyes had long adjusted to the dimly lit light bulbs, right above him and everyone else. Instead of the Infirmary bed, it was a seat of some sort. And strapping him and everyone else to their seats was an over-the-shoulder harness, which he struggled to push out of as soon as he regained his strength.
That wasn't all. There was an uncomfortable sensation around his neck. He touched it gently. It had a metallic yet cold feel to it. Yet at the same time, Alvin could feel that the restraint on his neck was not at all connected to the seat. In fact, it seemed to be a whole different machinery of some sort. Were these one of those… shock collars he's heard so much about?
He tried to take the collar off.
He tugged and pulled with his bare hands but the only thing it really did was make his neck feel sore and uncomfortable. Any more attempts and it would feel no different than if someone really was choking him until his neck snapped.
With a calming breath, Alvin glanced around to take note of his surroundings.
As he noted, he wasn't the only one in the room. Aligned together in a perfect circle was him along with his students: all 17 of them. That's right. The reason they were in this mess was because Alvin realized that Mabel must've miscounted. Unless… the 18th student that was supposed to be in class…
Was this their idea of an introduction?
Continuing to look around, he noted everyone's placements:
Himself, Daisuke, Emmeline, Fábio, Hope, Issac, Kazuki, Kikuko, Manon, Marabel, Beauté, Riku, Roderick, Yukihiko, Yumi, Aidan, Alina, Alisa, and back to him.
Next, he saw what was in front of him: a screen. Currently, the screen was blacked out, and no matter how hard Alvin tried to tap onto it for assistance, nothing happened.
Finally, in between this unique circle, was a miniature stage. Though no light was shone on it, Alvin supposed this circular stage was simply for decorative use.
"W-What… What happened?"
Alvin started to hear his own students slowly begin to stir awake.
"A-Agh!" Daisuke yelled, as his forehead and palms started to sweat. His face turned blue as his glasses tilted themselves to the side. Alvin could tell that he was about to– "W-Where am I?! W-What is this?! A-Agh! A-Agh! Someone! Help me! Let me out of here!"
–Freak out…
"D-Daisuke," Alvin seriously glanced at him from the side. "C-Calm down. Please."
"M-Mister Tetch?!" Daisuke widened his eyes. "W-What the heck is going on?! W-Where are we?!"
"Oh my…" Yukihiko was the next to speak as he struggled to lift up the harness. " Where exactly are we?"
"This don't look like Toronto, Mexico, or Kansas for that matter," Yumi tried to wrestle against her neck collar. "And what in tarnation is this here doohickey on mah neck?"
"It's probably a shock collar of some kind," Fábio deduced as he tapped it curiously. His serious eyes also seemed to be void of any twinkling stars this time.
"Sh-Shock collar?!" Daisuke's face turned purple… somehow. "W-Why do we have…?"
On cue, Aidan was the next to struggle with trying to take his neck collar off. But between him being imprisoned by his harness and the fact that the neck collar had been tightly sealed around his neck, his attempts remained futile. However, compared to everyone else, he thrashed and kicked wildly in an attempt to free himself.
"Damn it!" Aidan cursed after a few more attempts. "I can't get this thing off of me!"
After saying that, Aidan tried again. This time, he tried to wrestle and pull the collar straight off of his head. Naturally, that didn't work and instead, it was causing his skin to burn slightly thanks to the metal stuck to his neck.
"...I suggest you cease," Riku tilted his head, as he gazed at Aidan with clear malcontent. "Any more attempts and I'm expecting that collar to come off alongside your head…"
Riku suddenly remembered something.
"W-Wait…" Riku started to shake. "H-Have these restraints been sanitized?!"
"Th-That's the thing you're worried about here?!" Alina widened her eyes at Riku, incredulously. "Forget sanitization! W-We need to figure a way to get these things off of us!"
"I agree," Issac nodded, looking slightly downtrodden. "Even Isolde is getting uncomfortable…"
Issac raised Isolde up to reveal that she too had one of those collars around her neck.
"Your toy caterpillar has a collar too?" Kikuko stared at Isolde, though her face remained as calm and serene as ever.
For her, it didn't seem like being strapped to a chair with no idea where she was seemed like a big problem to her. Or… it could be the simple fact that she was simply shrouding her emotions behind her peaceful and tranquil face. Judging by the way her leg was starting to shake, it was probably the latter.
"Awww, that's so cute!" Emmeline cooed as she stared at Isolde. "The one who did this to us at least knew to give caterpillars some love!"
"...Or they have a terrible sense of humor," Mara remarked in an attempt to contribute to the conversation.
"Ah!" Manon gasped. "You are a genius, Mara! I believe you have found ze answer to our predicament! Oui!"
"H-Huh?" Mara turned to Manon, befuddled by the fact that she just got acknowledged by an actress and not in a rather negative way. "A-Ah… E-Er… th-thanks? I… guess…"
"Well, what is the answer?" Alisa bluntly stared at the actress, glancing down at her pocket watch. "Please answer within 30 seconds. Your time starts now…"
"Ze answer to why we are here is zat it is only a joke played by one of us!" Manon declared, grinning widely. "Très bien! Heehee~"
"Y-You think all of this is just an elaborate joke?" Roderick was shaking in his boots. "N-Nay! I don't believe this! I think we were taken by the Shrimp Men! Cultists living in the deepest part of the oceans! Th-They must've found me after I fished up their prized Golden Lobster!"
"Pffft, Shrimp Men don't exist!" Hope scoffed. "Obviously, we were taken by aliens!"
"Oh, how sweet…" Yukihiko tilted his head with a slightly taunting look. "Anyways, ignoring the children… Does anyone else have an idea on where we might be?"
"Well, that is the mystery, isn't it?" Beauté gave a slow laugh.
"In other words, you don't have an idea either," Fábio closed his eyes in response to the new possible Ultimate Bitch.
"Oh of course I don't," Beauté giggled creepily. "But this is part of the fun. We're locked in a place with no idea where and why. It just sounds like an elegant and grand start to a bigger mystery all together…"
Placing the tips of enclosed fingers to her lips, she began to chuckle softly as she glanced at her peers with pitiful gazes. It was definitely not helping their case at the moment.
"Okay, so, new theory!" Aidan raised his hand before pointing a finger toward Beauté. "I think she did it! I think she put us in here!"
"Oh?" Beauté feigned a gasp and leaned her body forward, allowing her red eyes to gaze into Aidan's soul. It was enough to force the track star to sink back into his seat. "Is that your final answer, little boy?"
"L-Little boy?!" Aidan widened his eyes in fear. "A-Aren't I taller than you?!"
"Well, if it really is one of us, then who would it be?" Yumi glanced around suspiciously. "Who do it?"
"The aliens did!" Hope declared.
"Next theory, please!" Alisa ordered.
"If I may pose a theory…" Yukihiko made sure his nails didn't break or anything like that. "...Wouldn't it make sense that the most suspicious person who may have done this would be the ones who would actually do something as sick and crazy as this?"
"B-But, who do you suggest that would be?" Alina asked, perking her head slightly.
"Well, sweetie," Yukihiko smiled at Alina, condescendingly. "There are many people I can think of. The first is that quack of a doctor over there. I hear he's yakuza, isn't he?"
Yukihiko pointed toward Riku, who seemed to be a little distracted by how unsanitary his restraints may have been. But once he realized he was being accused of something like this, his gaze turned dark.
"E-Excuse me?" Riku hissed. "Yakuza or not, you think I would do something like this? Do you not even know how unsanitary most of you people are? As if I would touch any of you..."
"Not going to lie, Arakawa over there has a point," Issac sighed. "Doesn't seem like his type of deal…"
"Well, that's alright," Yukihiko held onto his harness tightly with that same patronizing look. "That was only one of the people I was suspicious of. The other has to be the girl sitting next to the quack doctor."
"Huh?" Roderick blinked. "Me?"
"She said girl, man!" Aidan pointed out.
"Um, pardon me but I am a man, myself," Yukihiko's smile twitched ever-so-slightly. "I was actually referring to the one who has certainly caused trouble in the past before. Mara… was it?"
"...So, of course, everything leads back to me," Mara would definitely hug herself tightly if her harness allowed it.
"Oh honey," Yukihiko feigned understanding but was quickly all to ignorant to her pessimism. "Of course you would be on the suspect's list. After all, your Talent is quite capable enough to bring everyone to such a location. And this wouldn't have been the first time you've used your Talent for something so heinous anyway…"
Mara tightened her grip on the harness.
"Th-Then what about him?" Mara pointed to the rather quiet Kazuki. "That guy hasn't said a word since we woke up! Try accusing him next!"
"You want to accuse me of… whatever this is…?" Kazuki gestured to their predicament. "Sorry but… could you explain how it could even be me?"
"Well, you're the Ultimate Philanthropist, aren't you?" Mara frowned. "You would have enough money and resources to pull something like this off…"
"Interesting theory…" Kazuki smiled politely at Mara. "...However… that's not true at all. But… I think I might know what this really is…"
"R-Really?!" Daisuke exclaimed. "W-What is it?! And how do we get out of here?!"
"Well… I'm not sure about that last question…" Kazuki closed one eye as he began to explain. "But I'm pretty sure this is just… another elaborate attempt to kill me. This time though… it seems like everyone got cut up in my mess…"
The philanthropist sighed.
"I'm sorry everyone…" he sighed. "It's all my fault…"
"Oh my," Yukihiko gasped. "So, you are to blame for our situation."
"Okay, enough with the blame game!" Alvin seriously stated. "We're not going to get anywhere by just accusing each other!"
"Th-Then, Mister Tetch, what do you propose we do?" Alina asked, nervously. Currently, she was trying to smile slightly but it was getting hard to maintain that smile thanks to how disturbed she was by this situation.
Alvin considered the answer to Alina's question.
They didn't know where they were.
They didn't know why they were here.
But if there's anything they could figure out…
"Alisa," Alvin turned to Alisa, who was slightly taken aback by her teacher calling her name. "Are your clocks still working in perfect order?"
"O-Of course they are," but to double-check, Alisa peeked at her wristwatch.
"What time is it now?" Alvin questioned.
"6:02 PM…" Alisa answered, her eyes fixated on her watch. "In about 25 seconds, it will be 6:0–"
"6 PM?" Emmeline perked her head. "Didn't class start at 12 PM? Oh! Does that mean that whoever took us took 6 hours to prepare this surprise for us?!"
"Why are you treating this like it's some sort of birthday party?" Roderick questioned the lepidopterist.
"Ooh!" Emmeline blinked. "Whose birthday, is it?!"
"N-Nevermind," Roderick sighed.
"If we were knocked out at 12 PM and it's 6 PM now…" Alvin frowned. "Then it's exactly as Emmeline has said. We've been knocked out for 6 hours. Which means that whatever this is… can't be a joke of any kind. This must be something serious…"
"Y-You mean…" Daisuke gulped. "...As if we're about to get our organs harvested and sold on the black market?!"
"I see…" Kazuki nodded firmly. "So, I was right in my earlier assumption… All of this really is just a ploy to kill me…"
"Tch, this is no black market ordeal," Riku narrowed his eyes. "If it was, everyone's organs would've long been taken at least 5 hours ago. And we would have woken up in bathtubs. That's just how the process works."
"Spoken like a true yakuza," Issac remarked.
"...Cease on associating me with those pests," Riku stared at Issac with death in his eyes.
"Hey, don't look at me," Issac raised his hands up defensively. "Isolde was the one who said it. I just passed along her message."
As everyone talked amongst themselves regarding their situation, Alvin considered the possibilities as well. It was definitely not just a singular hit on Kazuki as the philanthropist would constantly assume. Otherwise, kidnapping an entire class would just be extra work. No. Whoever took them and imprisoned them in these restraints had to have done it for the sake of capturing the entire class.
But why?
Why them?
And almost all too suddenly… right on cue… came that voice that belonged to none of the 18 Ultimates in the room.
"I see the wankers have woken up! Finally, it's about damn, fucking time!"
"Huh?" Aidan blinked. "Wh-Who the heck was that?!"
"Yumi!" Emmeline called out. "Was that you?!"
"For Pete's sake missy, that ain't mah accent!" Yumi exclaimed. "Mah accent's from the South. This is more…"
"Aussie? Yeah, you got it!"
Sure enough, as the voice has confirmed, the accent was an Australian accent. To the 18 Ultimates, it sounded relatively normal. In fact, it sounded like whoever brought them here had to be from Australia. But none of them could've expected what would've popped out from the ceiling and landed directly onto the circular stage right in the middle of their seats and screen monitors.
A plush animal resembling that of a hyena.
…
"Well, well, well, if it ain't a couple of cunts from that frozen shit show you call a country!" the hyena plush animal declared. "Looks like we got a nice assortment today! Some Japs! Some Spans! The rest? A bunch of fucking ugly twats!"
"H-Hey, that's not very nice!" Aidan pointed his finger toward the hyena animal.
"I-Is that a talking hyena?!" Daisuke exclaimed in fear. His eyes had gone white, and his face had turned a new shade of purple and blue.
"O-Oh yeah…" Aidan blinked, realizing who he had just tried to pick a fight with. "It is."
Pause.
"H-How is this thing talking?!" Aidan suddenly screamed in shock.
"Yes, what are you exactly?" Kikuko narrowed her eyes, suspiciously toward the hyena.
"What am I?" the hyena looked offended. "Don't you mean, who am I?"
The plush hyena animal suddenly placed both of his paws on the sides of his hip as he exposed a toothy smile towards the 18 Ultimates that he stood in front of.
"Name's Monoyena!" the hyena introduced himself, boastfully. "Proud resident from the land down under! But as of today, just a visitor of that place where a bunch of sleazy fucks bag their milk for a good wank! What a fucking riot! Now that's what I call a vacation!"
…
(Monoyena ~ The Hyena From The Land Down Under)
…
Monoyena was probably no bigger than a large plush animal you would often see at the county fair. But unlike most plush hyenas, if any did exist in the world, Monoyena's design had an added bit of fun.
Just like any hyena, he was of a brown coloration with dark brown spots all around his body. His hands, feet, belly, and the left side of his face (the corrupted side), were all white and spotless, however. His nose and mouth area were a lighter brown coloration as well. He also wore what seemed to be a neck ruffle around his neck. The neck ruffle itself had two layers: the top layer was black, and the bottom layer was white.
For his head, he had a triangular-shaped face with slightly pointed ears and a black nose which also helped curve his toothy smile. His face was also divided up into two sides, but the division did not affect his nose and mouth area. His cuter right side retained some of the hyena characteristics and included an innocent triangular button-like eye. His left side however looked sinister as it was white, had none of the hyena traits, and was completed with a jagged red eye. To complete the look, he also bore a dark blue and neon-green blended slick mohawk whose tips curved toward his jagged side, effectively giving him more of that rockstar punk-look.
"Wow, the language on this thing…" Alina widened her eyes.
Just like everyone else, she was definitely surprised by the appearance of the plush toy. No, wait, that wasn't the only thing she was surprised by. She was surprised by the fact that it could talk, that it spoke with an Australian accent, and that it had done nothing but call them 'wankers', 'twats', and the c-word…
"Awwwww, I think it's adorable!" Emmeline cooed.
"S-Seriously?!" Daisuke turned to Emmeline in surprise.
"The fact that it spoke with such vulgarity should have made it less cute than it already is," Kikuko told Emmeline. "Please don't be fooled by its appearance…"
"But how can you guys not think he is cute?!" Emmeline gasped. "I mean, look at him! His chubby cheeks! His super cool hair! And look at that cute little belly button of his! Awww, isn't he adorable?!"
"Oh my, I have to agree with her on this one," Yukihiko examined Monoyena thoroughly. "If I didn't have my teddy bear to care for, I would certainly care for this little hyena baby like he was my own child."
"See?!" Emmeline giggled. "This girl believes me!"
"Oh sweetie," Yukihiko smiled at Emmeline with feigned innocence. "I'll forgive you for that one, but I assure you. I'm a boy."
"Hmm…" Kazuki hummed to himself. "Attempted murder by a cute plush toy… That's a first for me…"
The more these Ultimates spoke amongst themselves, the more Monoyena had strangely remained silent. His face was shrouded by darkness, but his mouth had curled up into a twisted snarl. Clearly, he was annoyed. Actually, annoyed would be an understatement. In reality, he was actually…
"Oi…" Monoyena started to leer as the side of his mouth exposed his sharpest canines. "Are you chucklefucks done yet?"
Slowly, Monoyena opened his mouth, allowing his drool to seep underneath his lips and allowing him to show just how sharp his teeth actually were. And by the tone of his voice, it was clear that he was really fucking angry.
"So, you cocksucking little shits think you can just go ahead and treat me like a fucking twink just cause I look like one, yeah?" Monoyena asked, offended. He started to snarl. "Crikeys, that just makes so... so..."
Immediately, Monoyena took out what seemed to be a Barbie doll with a shrimp lodged over her body. In fact, the Barbie doll was practically acting as a makeshift skewer for the shrimp, as it had a sharp blade attached to her body. And to assist in how angry Monoyena was, the hyena could do nothing more than bite his Shrimp on the Barbie, moreso biting onto the Barbie than the actual shrimp.
"Alright you sisterfucking twats!" Monoyena pointed his sharp weaponized Barbie doll toward the Ultimates. "Let's get one thing straight here! Call me cute, adorable, pretty, lovable, sweet or anything like that, and I'll use this to gut you all like a fucking fish!"
"H-He has anger issues too!" Daisuke screamed.
"Okay, seriously, whoever thought that playing a joke like this would be funny…" Fábio grimaced. "...Needs to get themselves checked out at the nearest psych ward."
"Huh?" Monoyena perked his head, using his weaponized Barbie doll as a makeshift toothpick.
"Yeah, this isn't funny anymore!" Aidan exclaimed. "Whoever is doing this to us, haha! This is all very funny but seriously! Let us go! Joke's over!"
"Joke?" Monoyena blinked.
"Ah hah hah hah," Beauté started to laugh. "I am beginning to question everyone's intelligence here. Are you all sure this is just a joke that someone is playing on us…?"
Then, leaning forward against her harness with that cold, fixated gaze, she continued.
"Or could it also not just be a rather deadly predicament…?" Beauté suggested.
"W-What are you talking about?" Roderick glanced at the mysterious Ultimate, hesitantly.
"Bwa… Bwahahahahahaha!" Monoyena cackled. "This broad be fucking smarter than the lot of ya! You guys still think this is just some sick joke and that someone is just gonna come free ya soon?! Nah mate, the only ones who can free you are you ugly lot!"
"And how do you propose we do that?" Mara frowned.
"What a good question," Monoyena widened his toothy grin before glancing to the side. "...For someone who fucked their mum…"
Judging by Mara's face, she did not like that comment one bit.
"I thought about this for a long, long time!" Monoyena started to walk around the edge of his circular stage. "You see, when you were all brought here, I thought to myself, something's wrong. Something's not quite right. Something's getting me knickers tied up in a bunch."
Monoyena stopped in front of Daisuke, who stiffened as he found himself sitting closer to the rather oddly intimidating plush toy hyena. Monoyena then slapped his fist onto the palm of his paw as his hood shot up straight, allowing his slick mohawk to look more like an average spiky mohawk.
"Then finally, I had a breakthrough!" Monoyena declared. "I found an answer! And all it took was cooking less shrimp on the barbie than I originally needed!"
Monoyena took out his Barbie bladed shrimp skewer and started to bite on it again.
"That's right!" Monoyena exclaimed. "The answer is that there are just too many of ya! We can't start with a cramped up oven! We gotta start trashing some of ya! The table's set up but we only have room for 17! So, naturally, I came to a fun conclusion!"
Monoyena jumped back onto the middle of his circular stage but this time, the tension and wackiness faded into something much more twisted. Much more sinister. Much more scary and much more alarming. Monoyena had pointed his bladed Barbie doll toward the Ultimates but this time, his expression grew darker, his toothy grin widened, and his jagged red eye started to glow with sparkly fire that reeked of bloodlust.
"Why don't I just go ahead and kill one of ya right here, right now…?" Monoyena snarled, allowing his drool to drench the ground as his voice turned dark and demonic right at the end. It was a signifier of how bloodthirsty he was getting now. Or rather, how excited and lustful he was getting too.
"W-What?" Aidan widened his eyes.
"O-Oh my!" Yukihiko looked surprised at how sudden the dread started to creep into his body.
"Q-Qu'as-tu dit?!" Manon's face looked horrified.
"Ah, there we go…" Kazuki nodded, fully expecting this.
"W-What do you mean by that?!" Daisuke turned to Kazuki in bewilderment. "H-How are you so unfazed by this?!"
Kazuki could only give a tired shrug. Clearly, he's been through worse.
"Y-You can't be serious!" Alvin gritted his teeth, glaring at the toy hyena angrily. "Kill one of us?! Th-This has gone too far! Let us go right now or I'm afraid I'll…"
"You'll what?" Monoyena taunted. "Send me to detention? Call the police? Call the fire brigade? Call the president of the United fucking States?! Bwahahahahaha! You old-timers crack me up! It almost makes me wish I could get that purple suit of yours stained blood red!"
Monoyena started to slobber as he leaned closer to Alvin. He glanced to the side for a second and cleared his throat, allowing one of his furry fingers to tap onto the tip of his Barbie Blade.
"But as much fun it would be to just kill all of ya right here, right now…" Monoyena began. "From the kindness of my heart, I'll give you wankers a chance. Originally, I was gonna choose whoever would be the most fun to gut…"
Monoyena gestured to Daisuke with a shrug.
"It was probably gonna be this twat here, by the way," Monoyena revealed.
"M-ME?!" Daisuke exclaimed. Oh, how he wanted to faint right about now.
"But I think it'd be a little more fun to let one of you fuckfaces choose who gets to bite the dust…" Monoyena started to widen his bloodthirsty grin as he trailed off.
And right on cue, the screens in front of each seat lit up to reveal a picture of each of the 18 Ultimates in the room. To the side of each picture was a checkbox. And just looking at the pictures now made it extremely clear to Alvin now that this was all pre-planned. He had long known that this wasn't a joke. But just now he had figured out that them being taken on the first day of class was no coincidence.
They were meant to be here.
They were meant to suffer…
The teacher gritted his teeth.
"Y-You mean we have to touch the screen too?" Riku looked annoyed. "H-Has it even been sanitized?"
"Nay, why is that your worry right now?!" Roderick turned to Riku in astonishment.
"If you don't mind me asking, Mister Yena…" Beauté seemed very intrigued by all this. In fact, compared to everyone else, she seemed to be the only one who was smiling at their current predicament. "But how exactly do you suppose someone will get to bite the dust?"
"N-Nay, and why are you so happy about this?!" Roderick turned to Beauté with a higher expression of distress.
"What a good question!" Monoyena cackled, glancing to the side. "For a fucking senile bitch…"
"Ah heh heh heh, you flatter me, you poor, inelegant creature…" Beauté feigned a laugh. But it was unclear whether she either accepted it as a compliment or was actually very offended by it.
"To answer the freak's question…" Monoyena placed his paws behind his back. "Why not a classic childhood favorite? A fun Minigame of sorts. Have any of you fuckfaces heard of Hot Potato?!"
"H-Hot Potato?!" Alina widened her eyes. "Th-That's how we're gonna decide?!"
"Oh my…" Yukihiko blinked. "I… haven't played such a game since I was 3…"
"Yeah, well, that's what you call good ol' nostalgia bait!" Monoyena grinned. "Come on! You guys know how it goes! You get a potato. You pass it around. Whoever has the potato by the end of the game, loses! Or at least, in the Monoyena version…"
Suddenly, lights turned on from behind every seat to reveal that behind each and every one of them was a chamber of some sort. Each chamber was empty and had a cold yet ominous feeling to it, which really didn't help ease the tension… or the spike in intensity that came after.
"W-What is behind us…?" Alisa turned to Monoyena, allowing her body to shake in fear.
"You mean you've never seen one of these rooms before?" Monoyena perked his head, slightly aghast. "Bwa…Bwahahahaha! That's exactly what I expected from an anorexic slutface like yourself!"
Alisa seemed relatively displeased by that comment.
"It's a fun classic room every parent should toss their unwanted children in!" Monoyena declared as his expression darkened. "An incinerator…"
"A-An incinerator?!" Daisuke exclaimed in fear. Okay, now he seriously wanted to faint.
"After all!" Monoyena started to pick his teeth with his Barbie Blade. "It ain't Hot Potato without the Hot part!"
Monoyena flicked a piece of stray meat from his teeth and flicked it away. Then, he leaned forward with a toothy grin.
"Now then… are you wankers ready to listen to the fucking rules now?" he asked. "Or are you just gonna keep whining like limp-dick pussies and beg for mercy? Please keep doing it by the way. It's music to my ears…"
"Y-You're insane!" Alvin yelled. "You won't get away with this!"
"Crikeys, old-timer," Monoyena picked the inside of his ear, irritably. "Can you be a little more original here? Thought you old fucks were the kings of originality."
"Enough," Kikuko was trying hard to keep calm but with every insult that passed through her ears, it almost looked as if she was trying hard to contain her feelings of anger. "What are the rules to your game? I don't believe my home country has any variation of what you call, 'Hot Potato'."
"Ah, just what I expected from a fucking oriental bitch," Monoyena snarled, ignoring Kikuko's worsening mood. "Well, lucky for you, I was gonna explain the rules anyway! After all, none of you have played Hot Potato like the way you're about to…"
Monoyena started to expose his sharpened teeth once again.
"Hot Potato," Monoyena began to explain the rules now. "Here's how you twats play. Someone starts out with a potato. At the start of each round, they get a choice. They can either choose to 'Keep' or 'Pass'. In order to Keep, all they have to do is choose their own player icon! And in order to Pass, just press anyone else's icon! However, they only have one minute to decide, or the choice will default to 'Keep'..."
"What happens if you 'Keep?" Alina asked, nervously.
"Bwa…. Bwahahahaha!" Monoyena laughed. "What a great question… for a fucking blonde bimbo!"
Alina was definitely not happy about that comment. In fact, she hadn't smiled at all in light of these tense circumstances.
"When a wanker chooses to 'Keep'..." Monoyena began to explain. "It's actually as it sounds. You 'Keep the Potato'. After that, well... That's it! The game is done. And the wanker that chose to Keep the Potato… gets fucking fried to crisp and becomes my dinner! Bwa… Bwahahahahaha!"
"Th-The game ends right there?!" Aidan was sweating bullets. "N-No… N-No way…"
"What about 'Pass?'" Fábio questioned. "I imagine it's self-explanatory, but I think it's best if you explain how that works as well."
"Alright, you twinkling shithead," Monoyena snarled. "You think you can get away with bossing me around?! I don't work under a fucking wanker like yourself, got it?!"
Fábio was definitely not happy with what Monoyena had called him.
"...Loud and clear," Fábio glanced away with a slight grumble.
"Anyway, if you choose 'Pass', you do exactly that," Monoyena grinned. "You get to 'Pass the Potato' to anyone in this room. Timer will reset and then it'll be their turn to decide whether or not they want to 'Keep' or 'Pass'!"
Monoyena started to boastfully laugh.
"I told ya!" Monoyena laughed. "This is game is really fucking easy! All you really have to do is just pass the fucking potato around until someone gets burned up just like them blokes involved with that fucking gender reveal party back in '07! What a riot! Bwa… Bwahahahaha!"
"I have to say," Kazuki smiled to himself. "This is the first time I feel excited in a situation where my life is at risk… It's a nice change of pace… Thank you…"
"S-Seriously!" Daisuke exclaimed. "H-How are you okay with this?!"
Monoyena then went back to picking his teeth as he continued to explain the rules.
"The game will last for ten minutes," Monoyena explained. "Meaning you wankers got enough time for only 10 Passes. Course, time doesn't really fucking matter if you decide right away from the get-go, but still... make your choices count. Or you might just wind up at the other side of my dinner plate! Bwa... Bwahahahaha!"
Monoyena took out another piece of shrimp lodged between his teeth.
"Also, no pass backs," Monoyena stated. "If someone gives you the potato and you get pissy about it, you can't give it back. Once you have it, you can either keep it or give it to someone else and hope someone else passes it back for ya. Because believe me, I got better things to do than watch two pigfucking shitheads pass potatoes to one another!"
Monoyena twirled his Barbie blade around with a ruthless smile.
"Anyway, that's all there is to it!" Monoyena exclaimed. "It's time to play the fucking game! Who's going to bite the dust literally? Bwahahahaha, I can't wait to find out! I'm just shaking in my knickers just thinking about it!"
Monoyena's mouth began to drool once more as he tapped his chin with the tip of his Barbie Blade, precariously.
"Now then, I think it's time I start handing out the Potato…" Monoyena eyed each of the Ultimates, still strapped and harnessed to their seats, unable to do much of anything to try to save themselves. "Who to pass it to… who to pass it to…? How about…"
Monoyena's jagged red eye landed directly on someone who didn't quite expect themselves to be first. Pointing the tip of his Barbie Blade, the first person to receive the Potato was…
"...you!"
…Mara…
And with a cackle, Monoyena jumped away and disappeared, allowing the main focus to be the 18 Ultimates, now stuck in the most awful of predicaments.
1st Pass
Immediately, the lightbulb above her lit up, brighter than ever in order to indicate to everyone that she was the current wielder of the Hot Potato. Not only that, but on everyone's screens, they could also see that Mara's icon now had a sizzling red potato pulsating with a lit fuse sticking out of the top. A timer on the top right corner of the screen had started from 60 and began to slowly count down. It was just as Monoyena had said. Mara only had 60 seconds to make a decision. Should she…
…Keep?
…or Pass?
"O-Oh hell no!" Aidan exclaimed. "Th-This is really happening, isn't it?!"
"Mara, think carefully," Alvin glanced toward the silent Ultimate Karate Master. For a brief moment, her eyes looked nervous and fearful, like any normal student. But the moment she realized that her fate rested in her own hands, Alvin saw that she had shrouded her face in a shadow. "Think about what choice you have to make here. I… I don't want to believe Monoyena but if there is even a chance that he'll make good of his threats, you have to make the right decision here."
"Arrrrgh!" Roderick glared at Alvin. "What the hell does she have to think about here?! It's either she dies, or she doesn't! There's no in-between!"
"Either she keeps the potato and dies, or she passes it along for them to decide their fate…" Kikuko bit her lip, trying to remain as unmoved by this as possible. However, it was clear that even this situation was making it hard for her to keep calm. "This is such a cruel game…"
"You have 30 seconds left, Mara," Alisa glanced at the timer. "Choose!"
"G-Guys, let's not stress her out, alright?" Alina suggested as her brow started to sweat. "Let her make her choice in peace!"
"To hell with that!" Yumi lowered her hat. "Mah apologies, missy, but there just ain't nothin peaceful nor right about something like this!"
"15 seconds," Alisa checked the timer.
"There's not enough time!" Alvin exclaimed, gritting his teeth. He banged the desk next to the monitor. "What are you going to do Mara? Are you going to keep or pass?! Are you going to sacrifice yourself? Or are you going to damn others to the same fate as your mother?!"
Mara widened her eyes, turning to Alvin.
Did he just– Did he really just–
She clenched her teeth as she noticed the timer slowly countdown through its last few seconds:
...
5…
...
4…
...
"I'm not going to die just so people like you can live," Mara darkly said, her eyes sparking a fiery red flame to show just how angered she was by what Alvin had said. "Screw you all…"
...
3…
...
2…
...
With no more hesitation left in her, she quickly chose the closest person on the screen that she could at the time.
...
1…
...
…Daisuke…
2nd Pass
With a ding, the screen updated to reveal that Daisuke now had the potato.
His face turned into a mixture of pale white, frightened blue, and a disgusting shade of green to make a very terrible pigment of purple. The 60-second timer reset and began to count down ever so slowly as he stared at his screen, frozen for a few moments. Once the timer went down to 55, his trembling body slowly turned to Mara in utter disbelief.
"W-W-W-W-W-W-W-WHY MEEEEEEEEEE?!" Daisuke shrieked in fear.
Mara said nothing.
"T-Take it back!" Daisuke screamed as he desperately tapped on Mara's picture. Only, every time he did, the only thing that happened was a buzzing noise, signifying that he was unable to do so. "T-TakeItBackTakeItBackTakeItBackTakeItBack!"
"D-Daisuke," Alvin turned to the Ultimate Fast-Food Employee this time. "Calm down! Remember the rules! There are no passbacks! If you don't want the potato, you'll have to choose someone else!"
"B-But whoooooooo?!" Daisuke cried out, his mouth slowly starting to foam in agonizing fear.
"Choose the alien!" Hope suggested. "Aliens hate potatoes!"
"I– I don't even know what you're talking about!" Daisuke screamed.
"30 seconds," Alisa counted.
"Daisuke," Alvin turned to him with a frown. "Think about it this way. Do you want to live or do you want to die?!"
"I– I– I…" Daisuke stuttered as he watched the seconds fly by.
"20 seconds," Alisa counted.
"Y-You know that's not helping anyone here, right?!" Aidan turned to Alisa, sweating bullets.
"I– I– I…" Daisuke continued to stutter.
He wanted to live, yes, but at the same time, he just didn't want to pass the potato! Not only that, but he didn't know who to pass the potato toward! As far as he knew, putting everyone in the same amount of stress was just…
"10 seconds," Alisa continued, ignoring Aidan's discomfort.
"Daisuke," Alvin turned to the larger male swiftly. "You have so much more left to live. Don't let this be your last moments! Don't end the game and live!"
"B-But lives…" Daisuke let eyes continue to tremble.
"If you pass, you're extending just how long we'll be in here!" Alvin exclaimed. "You'll be stalling for enough time for someone to eventually rescue us!"
"A-Ah… H-Huh…?" Daisuke blinked. He didn't think of it like that…
His eyes trailed to the timer, widening his eyes at the last few seconds:
...
5…
...
"H-Hurry!" Alvin yelled.
...
4…
...
"A-Ah…" Daisuke's trembling and sweaty hands went toward the first icon that he could think of pressing.
...
3…
...
"A-Ah…" Daisuke closed his eyes.
...
2…
...
"D-Daisuke!" Alvin yelled.
...
1…
...
"I– I want to live!" Daisuke screamed, tapping an icon before the timer reached zero. Tapping the icon of…
...
…Riku…
3rd Pass
Riku's lightbulb shined bright.
The Ultimate Doctor glanced toward his screen. He noted that the timer had reset, that his icon now carried that pulsating ticking potato bomb, and that the one who passed him this potato was the sweating hippo looking like he was about to piss himself. Slowly wasting five seconds to turn to Daisuke with a murderous gaze, he spoke.
"...Once this is over, I will make sure to cut open your head, and dissect your brain so I may figure out why you thought passing the potato to me was such a good idea…" Riku harshly stated.
And for a moment, Daisuke could've sworn he saw Riku's eyes flash white, which probably meant he was going to make good use of his threat. And somehow, that terrified Daisuke immensely.
"N-NoNoNoNoNo, please I just wanted to–" Daisuke begged from his harness.
"Ah heh heh heh," Beauté giggled creepily as she watched this exchange. "What a fascinating game. I see what Monoyena is trying to test here…"
"...And why are you speaking?" Riku spent another of his five seconds to turn his head and give a murderous glance toward the mysterious Ultimate. "Could it be that you have volunteered to take the potato?"
"Ah heh heh heh," Beauté chuckled, covering her smiling lips with her elegant hands. "I would be delighted to be the 4th person to be granted this elegant murderous potato. But you really shouldn't interrupt others when they are speaking…"
"20 seconds," Alisa pointed out.
"Keh," Riku's eyes turned hollow black. "Then, I suppose you'll just have another 60 seconds to continue speaking…"
Immediately, Riku tapped on the icon to Pass the Potato to the next target. That target being of course…
…Beauté…
4th Pass
"Ah heh heh," Beauté giggled sinisterly. "Now as I was saying…"
Compared to everyone else, she was relatively unfazed when it was her turn to be on the chopping, er, sizzling block. The lightbulb above her head shined bright. Her icon now held the ticking time bomb and the timer hard reset once more, giving Beauté ample time to state her understanding of the game.
"...It would seem this variation of 'Hot Potato' is a fun game of sacrifice," Beauté stated. "In other words, all we have to do in order to win the game, is to simply choose to pass the potato onto one person. That person has to be someone who would not mind giving their own life for the lives of the rest of us 17…"
Kazuki perked his head upon hearing that.
"N-No, Beauté, we're not doing that!" Alvin yelled, glaring at his student for even suggesting such a thing. "Th-There has to be another way! At the very least, let's just stall the game until we figure out something! Like maybe a loophole, or maybe bide time until rescue comes!"
"Rescue coming in the next 5 minutes?" Fábio raised an eyebrow before frowning. "I'm sorry Mister Tetch, but that doesn't seem possible."
"Mister Tetch, you're really not that smart are you?" Beauté extended her hand fan to cover her lower face and show only her pitiful glance. "There are no loopholes in a game of sacrifice. In the end, someone must die."
"30 seconds," Alisa pointed out.
"A-Ah… so it's come to this, hasn't it?" Aidan gulped.
"A-Aye…" Roderick started to sweat as well. "Perhaps the lass is right. Perhaps we need to start thinking about volunteering…"
"Students, please!" Alvin begged. "Hold out for hope!"
"Me?" Hope blinked.
"No!" Alvin shook his head. "Hope! As in the name of our fine institution! That's what you all are, aren't you? The Hope of our next generation?!"
"Well, my name is Hope so…" Hope smiled innocently.
"Sh-Shut up Hope!" Alvin yelled, irritated. "Th-This is no time for your silliness! We can't just go and sacrifice someone like this! Th-There has to be… another way…"
"O-Oh, ouch, that was mean…" Hope pouted before muttering under her breath. "Filthy alien."
"10 seconds," Alisa pointed out.
"Well, we still have six more passes left," Beauté started to smile widely. "And I don't know about you all, but I am not ready to give up my life. This entire situation is so… elegantly fascinating… Ah… Ah heh heh heh heh."
The timer reached its last five seconds:
...
5…
...
4…
...
Then, with a finger and an elegant tap, Beauté chose the next bearer of the hot potato…
…Yumi...
5th Pass
"W-What in tarnation?!" Yumi widened her eyes, glancing toward Beauté in shock.
"Ah heh heh heh," Beauté chuckled once again. "My apologies. I was running out of time, so I tapped on the first icon I saw. You understand, correct?"
Okay, Yumi could understand that. But what Yumi couldn't understand, or rather didn't expect was her own life being at risk thanks to a potato. The most she was worried about were guns, people wielding guns, and the occasional cactus injury or two. But a potato that was getting ready to send her to Hell lest she didn't make a decision within 60 seconds? That was something.
"O-Okay, everyone!" Alvin held onto his harness. "Let's not send the potato to anyone until the timer is effectively within the 10-second mark! We need all the time we can get!"
"I must agree with Mister Tetch," Alisa nodded her head. "For this current pass, we have 45 seconds left to discuss what we should be doing."
Beauté shrugged, folding her arms and looking elegantly indifferent.
"I suggested picking out the one whose life would mean very little enough to be effectively sacrificed," Beauté pointed out. "But no one seems to have sided with me. How inelegant."
"I… I volunteer as tribute," Alina raised her hand. Based on her expression, she was trying her damn best to smile.
"A-Alina, no!" Alvin yelled.
"Hey… don't count me out either…" Kazuki picked his head up. "I've been ready to sacrifice my life for a long time…"
"K-Kazuki!" Alvin turned to the male in shock.
"Hmm, so we have two tributes," Issac rubbed his chin with a relatively relieved smile. "That's pretty good."
Issac blinked for a moment before raising Isolde up to his ear.
"Huh?" Issac questioned. "What's that Isolde? You want to offer myself as tribute? You're too kind, hahaha, but unfortunately, I think Gundo is going to have to choose soon."
"Indeed," Alisa nodded. "She only has 10 seconds left."
"W-Where in the Sam Hill has the time gone?!" Yumi widened her eyes. "A-And who was it that wanted to be offered up as tribute?!"
"Me!" Alina stated, seriously.
"...And me," Kazuki tiredly raised his hands.
Yumi's eyes darted right back on the clock. She had five seconds to make her choice now. And it wasn't an easy choice…
...
5…
...
Alina…?
...
4…
...
Or Kazuki…?
...
3…
...
Alina…?
...
2…
...
Or… There was no time! Yumi quickly selected someone.
...
1…
...
She selected…
...
…Alina…
6th Pass
Alina's lightbulb lit up.
And all Alvin could do was stare at her predicament, horrified. She had volunteered herself as tribute, meaning she was definitely the person who was going to end up choosing to Keep the Potato. As the timer ticked back down from 60 once more, Alvin noticed the reverberating potato icon continuously beating like it was her lifeline.
He had to do something!
And fast!
"Alina, stop!" Alvin exclaimed, noticing that Alina was having trouble deciding whether or not she truly wanted to go through with this. "D-Don't do this! You told me that you spent so much of your time playing nothing but instruments of every kind! You have done that your entire life! You have spent so much time on all of them! Do you really want to waste all of that time you put on that for the lives of others?!"
"B-But if I'm not the one who will do it then…" Alina started to shake.
"Look… I'm right here…" Kazuki closed his eyes with a sigh. "Just give the potato to me… This was something I was born to do…"
Alina glanced at Kazuki then closed her eyes as she began to shake. She began to realize all too quickly what terrible circumstances she had placed herself in. She had offered herself as tribute and yet here she was, wondering whether or not she should back out at the last second.
"I… I…" Alina started to shake.
"You have 30 seconds left," Alisa pointed out.
"P-Please Alina!" Alvin begged. "Don't do this! You're better than this! You can't give in to that hyena's twisted game!"
"N-No…" Alina shook her head. "I volunteered. I have… I have to go through with…"
Alina slowly raised her hand over her screen as she glanced at her own icon. Her finger was, oh so very close, to tapping her own icon. She was so close to choosing to Keep the Potato. And yet… Why was she hesitating? Didn't she think she was ready for this? To go through with… this?
"10 seconds," Alisa glanced up toward Alina.
Alina started to shake as she glanced up toward Alvin's begging eyes.
"P-Please Alina…" Alvin shook his head. "D-Don't…"
Alina glanced back down at her screen, noticing that the timer had just went down to five seconds remaining:
...
5…
...
Alina closed her eyes.
...
4…
...
And then she…
...
3…
...
"A-Aghhhh…." Alina shook her head and screamed in fear.
...
2…
...
"I– I'm sorry!" Alina screamed. "I can't do this!"
...
1…
...
She quickly tapped on an icon…
…Manon…
7th Pass
"S-Sacre bleu?!" Manon yelped in surprise when she saw that she was the next wielder of the potato.
Obviously, this sudden pass caught her off-guard. And for once, she had felt little need to actually tease anyone, especially since the 60 second timer was ticking down, waiting for her to make her choice. Her lightbulb had lit up to signify her possession of that fateful object. There were only 3 more Passes that could be done and now, Manon found herself being the one in charge.
She glanced over at Alina in shock.
"I– I'm sorry," Alina looked away, ashamed. "I… I panicked! I didn't mean to…"
"Putain de merde!" Manon cursed, her face turning blue as she watched the potato icon slowly beat quicker. "Morceau de merde! Qu'est-ce que je vais faire avec ça?!"
"I… I have no idea what she said but I'm pretty sure she's panicking," Aidan gulped.
Yeah, no shit Aidan.
"Donnez-le-moi…" Kazuki kept one eye closed and the other open as he glanced at Manon. "Donnez-le-moi… s'il vous plaît…"
Despite how tired and pale he looked, compared to everyone else, he was the one who was the most level-headed in this situation. In fact, only second behind him was Kikuko, who was trying hard not to turn blue from fear. And Manon could only glance at him in surprise.
"A-Ah?" Manon blinked, feeling somewhat condemnable if she did go through with this. "A-Are you sure, Monsieur Nobukatsu?"
"I've been sure for a long time…" Kazuki gave a small smile.
"K-Kazuki, don't!" Alvin exclaimed.
"30 seconds," Alisa counted down as Manon took a deep breath.
Her hands slightly shook as she prepared to press Kazuki's icon. She took another deep breath. Manon had to get it together. She had to remember who she was. She was Manon Vivienne Levesque, the actress! No. The Ultimate Actress! She had to remain calm. She had to go through with this. She had to live!
She gave a look toward Kazuki.
"Monsier Nobukatsu," Manon glanced at him with slight sympathy. "Je suis désolé…"
"Don't be…" Kazuki lightly smiled.
"15 seconds," Alisa counted once again as Manon made her decision.
Tapping Kazuki's icon, she watched as the potato moved from her icon to…
…Kazuki…
8th Pass
Kazuki sighed in relief.
Now, his lightbulb was the only lightbulb that remained lit as he glanced at the screen. The potato had moved to his icon, practically begging him to tap his own face. Kazuki stared at himself for a solid five seconds before looking up.
"Well then… I guess this is it guys…" Kazuki gave a thin smile toward his peers before reaching to select his face.
He took a deep breath. Unlike Alina, he was much more positive that he wished to do this. But of course, there always had to be someone to interfere. And who else would it be but…
"Kazuki, stop," Alvin frowned.
"45 seconds left," Alisa pointed out as Kazuki stopped what he was doing and glanced at Alvin.
"I get it," Alvin clenched his fist. "You've been ready for this your entire life. You've been ready to give up, right then and there…"
Kazuki's hand hovered over his screen.
"I don't know exactly what happened to you in the past, Kazuki," Alvin tried to persuade the Ultimate Philanthropist to not go through with this. "But you've said it yourself. You still have some semblance of Hope for humanity. So, don't go through with this! Please…"
Kazuki glanced at Alvin in slight interest.
"30 seconds left," Alisa looked up.
But the intense moment and rapid panic in the room was being drowned out by Alvin and Kazuki's one-on-one moment with each other. A talk between student and teacher. A conversation a teacher had to convince his student not to kill himself. Not to…
"Mister Tetch…" Kazuki sighed, closing one eye and glancing at him with the other. "...Don't you think it's better for a guy like me who's seen humanity at its worst… to die knowing that Hope does still exist in this world…?"
Alvin said nothing.
Hope was about to open her mouth, but she was shushed by Fábio, allowing them to have their moment uninterrupted.
"...Why are you going so far… to save the life of someone who wants to sacrifice himself for others…?" Kazuki tilted his head, curiously.
"Because you need to give the potato to me…" Alvin grimaced.
"...What?" Kazuki opened his other eye and widened both.
"T-Teacher?" Emmeline gasped, quiet throughout this entire game.
"Mister Tetch!" Alisa's 10 second warning was preemptively cut off by Alvin's demand. "W-What…"
"Quickly, Kazuki," Alvin tried to say. "We don't have much time. Give me the potato. It has to be me who does this…"
"B-But…" Kazuki blinked.
"You are still so young…" Alvin quickly stated. "You have more to live. All of you have more to live than I do… So please, give the potato to me…"
Kazuki started to hesitate.
At first, he was so convinced that he would be the one to sacrifice himself. But in the end, even that wasn't the truth. In the end… The timer was beginning to count down from 5… Whatever decision he had to make, he had to make it quickly.
...
4…
...
His hand shook as time slowed down for him, allowing him to process everything that Alvin had stated.
...
3…
...
He still had so much to live, did he? So much to see? Him sacrificing his life now…
...
2…
...
Was it even worth it…?
1…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
9th Pass
Alvin's lightbulb lit up.
Kazuki had relented.
Kazuki's potato had been handed toward Alvin. The timer had reset once more and unlike everything beforehand… The stress, the tension, the fear… it was all beginning to die down now that Alvin had the ticking time bomb pulsating through the screen. He closed his eyes and breathed out a sigh of relief.
Thinking about it now, it had to be him.
A teacher's job was to protect his students.
They were in charge of everything. Their education. Their health and wellbeing. Their comfort and safety. In a game of sacrifice, it only made sense that the teacher had to be the one to go, didn't it? Tch, in the end, no matter how perfect he was, he always knew that deep down he was imperfect.
An imperfect man deserved to die in an imperfect situation, didn't he?
Heh.
He couldn't even look at his students at the moment. His heart remained still. He had made up his mind. He thought back to something Mabel had told him earlier today…
"Please, you spent that entire time criticizing how different she was compared to the big screen," Mabel shook her head slightly in disappointment. "Please keep in mind that these Ultimate students are still young. As their teacher and someone who's supposed to be responsible for their wellbeing, please don't ever forget to make sure that they are the priority. Got it?"
He thought about this deeply.
He sighed to himself.
He was supposed to be responsible for their wellbeing…
And yet…
…
He noticed Alisa wasn't even giving a reminder about the timer. It seemed that she was definitely troubled by this conclusion that everyone had seemed to settle on. He glanced at the screen. 15 seconds left and counting. Time was ticking well enough as he remained still and drowned out every sound from his saddened students.
And to think…
…everything was going perfectly.
…
…
…
5…
...
4…
...
3…
...
Alvin sighed.
...
2…
...
"I'm sorry Mabel…" he closed his eyes.
...
1…
…
…
…
…
…
…
10th Pass
Alvin opened his eyes, his face turning grim and his gaze looking ashamed. He couldn't even look at his own students right now but judging by their reactions, he could tell that they were confused about what just happened. And once the confusion set in, then came the bewilderment, the surprise, and finally, the looks and voices of betrayal…
"M-Mister Tetch…" Kazuki widened his eyes. "You…"
"W-What?!" Alina gasped. "I thought…"
"M-Mister Tetch…?" Alisa was absolutely astonished by this turn of events.
"T-Teacher?!" Emmeline looked absolutely shocked.
"M-Mister Tetch what did you–" Daisuke screamed in shock.
"A-Argh…" Roderick started to sweat profusely. "Y-Ye didn't… D-Did you just…"
"Oh, what a plot twist!" Beauté was the only one who seemed to enjoy this feeling of surprise she felt in her heart. "Mister Tetch! I take my remarks about you being quite unintelligent. What you have just pulled here… It was quite elegant!"
"Bwa… Bwahahahaha!"
Suddenly.
Hyena.
The cackling of Monoyena's Australian accented laughs arose once more as the plush hyena plopped back down at the circular stage in-between everyone. Clearly, no one enjoyed this turn of events more than the hyena himself as he began to laugh hysterically.
"Now that was a fucking twist and a half!" Monoyena laughed, before flipping everyone the bird. "I'm not gonna lie, I really thought old-timer here was gonna take the fucking hit but turns out, he's as much as a cunt as the rest of ya twats! Bwa… Bwahahahahaha!"
"M-Mister Tetch," Kikuko turned to Alvin, biting her lip. "W-Why?"
Alvin said nothing as he avoided the distrustful looks of his peers.
"W-Wait, but if Teach wasn't the one who's going to get… then who…" Aidan glanced around until he spotted the only lit lightbulb in the room. In fact, it was now so much harder to miss now that the lightbulb was blinking profusely, as if the guilty party had just won a prize. No one could believe who Alvin Tetch had just sentenced to their death…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…Hope.
Hope Thornton.
"E-Egads…" Hope couldn't believe her predicament for an entirely different situation. "Th-The alien knew that I was planning on betraying him from the get-go! Th-The alien knew everything!"
Alvin grimaced as he held his harness tightly.
That's when he spoke for the first time in what felt like five Passes, ahem, five minutes.
"Yeah," Alvin tightened his grip with a frown, avoiding Hope's gaze. "The alien knew everything…"
"A-Are you crazy, Mister Tetch?!" Fábio looked at his own teacher with discontent. He clenched his fist and gritted his teeth, allowing the twinkling sparkles in his eye to vibrate in frustration. "H-How could you do something like this?! To your own student no less?!"
"Y-Yes, I have to know," Alisa nervously started to twist the dial on her pocket watch. "W-Why, Mister Tetch?"
"It just goes to show," Yukihiko glanced at Alvin with a disapproving look. "The young will always overtake the old. I wonder how you'll sleep tonight now, Alvin Tetch."
Almost all too quickly, the students that he had gotten used to meeting… the students that seemed comfortable around him… the students that were just so happy to meet him… the students that were just perfect despite their obvious flaws… They were all turning against him. Everything was falling apart.
"Er, I know Sheriff Tetch be breakin some laws here, but I think we've got bigger flames in them bushes…" Yumi gulped, turning to Hope, who for an oddball, was all too aware of her situation now.
"Aliens…" Hope shuddered. "There are… so many aliens around me…"
"Well, you know what they say," Monoyena's mouth twisted into a toothy grin. "If you can't fix a loon like this green-haired cream-stain, incinerate them! Bwa…. Bwahahahahahaha!"
"B-But the aliens!" Hope yelled. "I, Hope Thornton, can't be incinerated! There are still so many aliens I need to exterminate! So many aliens I need to destroy with my cheese gun! I… W-Where's my parts! I need to get rid of these aliens!"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever ya crazy bitch," Monoyena took out his Barbie Blade and began to pick his teeth with it. "Tell the fucking asshole up there or the piece of shit down there, Monoyena sent ya! 'Kay? 'Kay! And…"
Monoyena leaned forward, widening his grin to reveal all of his sharp-ass teeth.
"Thanks for losing," Monoyena grinned.
"B-But, but but but but," Hope quivered. "B-But but but but but but but but but!"
"And goodbye!" Monoyena waved his middle paw finger. "You fucking loon!"
"W-WHAT ABOUT THE ALIENS?!" Hope screamed. "N-NOOOOOOOOOO!"
...
Hope's seat began to shake as Monoyena cackled crazily. Her lightbulb began to blink until finally it turned into a shade of red, signifying that she had lost the game. And as if the point couldn't be shown even more, everyone's screens, including Hope's, had switched to the following words...
...
HOPE THORNTON HAS LOST THE MINIGAME
COMMENCING INCINERATION
...
Hope remained shivering in her seat as she felt all eyes stare at her with a mixture of fear and disbelief as her seat continued to shake. The light that appeared behind her seat belonging to her own personal incineration chamber had shone brighter than ever. Even though Hope couldn't exactly turn back to see it for herself, there was no need to as its light reflected off against her screen.
For someone named Hope, she realized now that her death was just all too ironic...
A Glorious Blaze for The Sad Potato: The Ultimate Ufologist's Incineration
And almost all too immediately, Hope's seat quickly shot back, pulling her further away from the peers she barely got to know and further into the chamber that would soon be her doom. Her face was turning blue from fear as she reached out her hand, but the harness restraining her was practically inescapable.
As soon as Hope was pulled into the room, the door to the incineration chamber shut, and the only thing anyone could see was a circular window that would allow anyone to watch what was about to happen to her. And as soon as her seat had escorted straight toward the middle of the chamber, Hope felt the harness release.
Wasting no time, she pulled the harness up and rushed immediately toward the door, banging on the glass and screaming all the while. Though visibility was limited, the people she could see clearly either looked away or looked horrified for her. Her eyes trailed to Alvin, who could only stare at her with a grim expression. And then finally, her eyes landed on Monoyena, who once again flipped her off with his middle paw finger, grinning erratically.
Hope slowly turned her back to see that the nozzles pointed directly toward her had started to point toward her instead.
…Then it happened.
Flames burst through the nozzles, engulfing the entire chamber in flames. Hope had turned to continuously bang on the window but to no avail. Her eyes went wild as she screamed in pain. The fire had spread all too quickly, completely engulfing Hope's body as she felt her skin, hair, and entire body start to disintegrate into ash and dust. She was being burnt to a crisp and there was nothing she could do about it.
No matter how hard she banged…
No matter how loud she screamed…
No matter how much she cried…
This was it for her.
…
She just couldn't believe that the last thing she saw was that alien laughing at her demise…
MINIGAME END
When the door finally opened, Hope's charred corpse toppled down to the ground, right between the two boys she was seated next to: Fábio and Issac, the former of which whose face was close to shades of blue and green.
"Th-This… Th-This…" Fábio couldn't even form a response.
"What's that Isolde?" Issac held up his toy caterpillar as he stared at Hope's body with widened eyes. Though, comparatively, he didn't seem to shake as much as most of the other students did. "Oh… I see."
Issac glanced up with a grim face as the smell of death assaulted his nose with the grimiest scent imaginable.
"Isolde says…" Issac began before speaking with the plainest tone ever imaginable, "Aghhhhhhhhhh…"
"W-Why did this?!" Emmeline looked absolutely horrified. In fact, she was so horrified that she was practically stress-eating her pills from her Ziploc bag. "W-Why did this happen?! W-Wasn't 'Hot Potato' supposed to be a fun, innocent game?! W-Why is she–"
"Bwa… Bwahahahahaha!" Monoyena cackled. "Fun and innocent?! Th-That's fucking hilarious… coming out of the mouth of a mushroom-devouring bitch! Bwahahahaha!"
"Y-You're not very cute at all!" Emmeline yelled, tears starting to form from her eyes. "Y-You're horrible! Y-You're scary! Y-You're… Y-You're…"
"Someone gets it!" Monoyena's red jagged eye glowed. He turned to Fábio this time. "And what about you, Twinkie? Still think this is some kind of a joke. Or have you wanking fucks finally caught on?!"
"Th-This…" Fábio still couldn't say squat.
"Enough!" Alvin glared at Monoyena. "You got what you wanted! We played your game! Miss Thornton paid the price! Now let us go!"
"Paid the price?" Alina glanced at Alvin, shocked. "W-What are you talking about?! Y-You gave her the potato! Y-You just… You just killed her!"
"...I should've never given away the potato…" Kazuki closed his eyes, regretfully. "Instead… I fell through with the Devil's demands and let his whispers convoy me to a path I did not wish to follow… How shameful…"
"Ah heh heh heh," Beauté chuckled sinisterly. "In the end, the obvious suspect who should've sacrificed themself chose to sacrifice someone innocent. And as a result, his reputation has become tarnished. Oh…"
Beauté placed her hands over her cheeks as she began to blush.
"How elegantly this tale writes itself!" she mused.
"I can't believe you would do something so terrible, Mister Tetch," even Alisa, his personal favorite, couldn't look him in the eye.
But in the end, Alvin could only known for himself that he did what he had to do. Sacrificing Hope instead of himself, it was the right call! It was the right call for him… wasn't it? He grimaced. This time, he wasn't able to drown out everything, allowing his students to berate him for his actions. Berate him enough to remember the oath he had broken…
"Are you chickening out on me now, Alvin?" Mabel teased. "You were recommended for this job for a reason. You got the promotion for a reason. If I didn't think you were ready, did you really think I'd let you take charge of a classroom all by yourself?"
Alvin considered what she had said and glanced at her with a small look of appreciation. He touched her hand and nodded.
"Y-You're right," Alvin took a deep breath. "I'm ready for this. These students, they're my responsibility now…"
Mabel patted him on the back.
"Go get them," Mabel encouraged.
Alvin slowly looked up toward the Monoyena, who was too busy laughing and taking in all of this misery and feelings of betrayal.
"Let us go now, Monoyena," Alvin ordered. "Whatever point you were trying to prove, you proved it. So please, let me and the rest of these students go…"
"An old-timer begging a fucking hyena to let him, and a bunch of horny twats go?" Monoyena perked his head before showing off his signature hysterical laughter. "Bwa… Bwahahahaha! The fucking script writes itself!"
Monoyena took out his Barbie Blade and began to poke its incredible sharp tip with a heightened grin.
"Tell ya what," Monoyena examined his blade closely like it was a prized family heirloom. "Since you kinda made my day with all the times ya cunts nearly pissed ya knickers, I guess I'll be a hyena of my word. Sure then, I'll let ya go!"
"...Thank you," Alvin nodded his head.
"Congrats on winning the game or whatever," Monoyena shrugged, looking quite indifferent when it came to the winners. "It's time to send ya down!"
"Send us down?" Kikuko asked, biting her lip. Her face was still blue, evidence of her holding her emotions back. Even though she was nowhere near Hope's body, she could smell the corpse and it was enough to make her tremble, uncomfortably.
"Yeah, that's what I said," Monoyena nodded with a grin. "So, let me just… Wait…"
Monoyena rubbed his chin for a moment. Then, laughing, he slapped his forehead as he cackled once more. Based on how long they've known him, it was enough for the remaining 17 to understand that whenever he laughed, it was never a good thing.
"Ah fuck!" Monoyena laughed as he cursed. "Now how the living shit did I forget this?! I forgot a very important fucking rule on where you little cunts are gonna be dropping down to!"
"W-What?" Daisuke gulped.
"W-What is it this time?!" Alvin glared at Monoyena. "And what do you mean by dropping down?!"
"Well, simply put old-timer, I got so excited that I got to burn a bitch alive that I forgot to mention something really fucking important!" Monoyena rubbed his slick mohawk bashfully. "Where you guys will be dropping down to, there's a really important fucking rule that needs to be followed."
"What's the rule?" Aidan asked, nervous.
"Bwa… Bwahahahahaha!" Monoyena laughed before leaning forward. "The rule is…"
Monoyena started to snarl as his exposed sharp teeth widened. He began to drool. His jagged red eye glowed with a fiery aura radiating off of it. His bloodlust was beginning to show.
"...No old-timers allowed where you're going…" Monoyena revealed.
"W-What?!" Alvin widened his eyes. "Y-You mean…"
"Sorry, you old manslut!" Monoyena started to hysterically laugh. "Bwa… Bwahahahahahahaha! Them's the rules! So, I guess I have no choice but to… incinerate ya…"
Monoyena pointed his Barbie Blade toward him.
"Y-YOU FUCKER!" Alvin yelled, slamming his fist onto his screen, effectively causing the screen to crack. "N-NO! I… I SURVIVED THE MINIGAME! I SURVIVED! THIS IS– THIS IS BULLSHIT! TWO PEOPLE ARE GOING TO DIE NOW!"
"Oi, you're acting like that's my fault," Monoyena raised his paws in defense. "I didn't make the fucking rules ya know. And besides, you kinda did bring this to yourself. Ya coulda just taken the hit! Could've gone out with a little shred of dignity left! But instead, ya went ahead and took a bitch with ya! How funny is that?! Bwa… Bwahahahahaha!"
Monoyena's jagged red glowed brighter than ever before as he started to laugh harder and harder.
"BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Monoyena laughed. "That's karma for ya, motherfucker!"
"S-Students!" Alvin turned to his students, his eyes looking terrified. His face paled and his eyes started to tear up. "P-Please! S-Stop him! P-Please! I'm your teacher! I– I—"
No one said anything.
Even though everyone had remained silent, it was clear to Alvin that they were all in a collective agreement. What he had done to Hope was utterly unforgivable. Even though some of them thought that killing him would be too far, no one dared raise a hand or a voice to stop Monoyena.
No one…
"I… I…" Alvin widened his eyes.
All too quickly, he realized it.
He was screwed from the very beginning. The life he had taken to get people to survive… It was meaningless. That was the real point of the game wasn't it? He was the solution and yet the solution… He gritted his teeth as he closed his eyes.
Today was supposed to be a perfect day.
His perfect day.
And yet once again, no matter how perfect he looked on the outside, that imperfection inside him seeped out… And took advantage of his imperfect situation to put him to an imperfect end.
"Time to kill another fucker!" Monoyena cackled, glancing at Alvin with a violent expression. "Bwahahahaha! Thanks for losing! You senile cocksucking twat!"
Alvin gave one last look toward his students before closing his eyes.
And unlike Hope, the last thing he could say was…
"...I'm sorry…" Alvin grimaced. "...Mabel…"
Similar to Hope, Alvin's seat also began to shake. The lightbulb above his head had turned red and wildly flickered to signify that it was his turn to suffer the same fate that Hope had. And all the while, Alvin could see on his cracked screen the words…
…
ALVIN MILES TETCH IS NOT ALLOWED TO PROCEED
COMMENCING BANISHMENT
…
Just like Hope, the light gleaming from the incineration chamber behind him had reflected past him, turning him and his seated restraints into one big silhouette that was getting ready to be extinguished. As his seat shook, he could see that his students each exhibited different reactions to his incoming fate.
Some looked petrified and tried to look away.
Others looked away because they didn't want to admit that perhaps this fate was well-deserved.
But the one who was shaking the most was Daisuke, who trembled as the man seated next to him…
A Glorious Blaze for The Sad Potato (Round 2): The Former Ultimate Talent Scout's Banishment
…got pulled away into the incineration chamber. He watched as he was hauled away from his students. He watched as he was heaved into a room with the same nozzles that fried Hope alive. He watched the door close, locking him inside his own death room. Alvin's legs trembled. His lips quivered. His eyes shook, his hands quaked, and his brow sweat profusely as he felt his harness loosen, allowing him to release himself from his seat.
And just like Hope, Alvin raised toward the circular window and banged on the door. But none of his students could do anything. And not like they would help. After what he did… Alvin cursed to himself. What did he do so wrong? He wanted to survive didn't he? He didn't want to die so soon? He… He… just did what he thought was…
Alvin's eyes trailed at Monoyena, but instead of flipping him off, the hyena waved toward him with a sadistic grin.
Alvin turned back.
And just like Hope, the nozzles pointed directly toward him…
…Then it happened.
The nozzles spewed fire, effectively engulfing the screaming Alvin in flames as he tried to put himself out by taking off his purple suit. But no matter how much he tried, the amount of flames that was being expelled onto him was no joke. There was no escape for a fate like this. He felt his skin, his hair, and his clothes start to singe as he banged on the clothes in pain.
He screamed in pain, allowing his own tears to evaporate and sizzle due to the roasting temperatures of the chamber.
Ha.
Just like Hope…
No matter how much he banged for help…
No matter how loud he screamed…
No matter how much he cried…
This was it for him…
…
And the last thing he saw were the ashamed looks of his students and the cackling hyena plush toy that ruined his perfect day.
…
Today… was supposed to be perfect…
When the door opened, much like Hope, Alvin's charred corpse toppled to the ground with a louder thud due to how strong he had been back when he was…
As soon as Daisuke landed his eyes on what was left of his teacher, the larger male instantly puked on his screen as tears started to flow out his eyes. Similarly, Alisa looked sick to her stomach but simply looked away, avoiding even looking at the scorched remains of the teacher she was once fond of.
"Now that's a wanker who deserved what he got coming to him!" Monoyena grinned sadistically. "Fucking hell! That was a rush of excitement! I got to kill a bitch and a dickhead! Today is just a great day!"
"E-Enough…" Riku glared at the animal. "How much longer do you intend to keep us strapped in these unsanitized seats? Or are you just going to kill another one of us too…?"
"And have you started your new fun life with only 15 people?" Monoyena perked his head before grinning. "Not a bad idea! Unfortunately, ol' Stanley might throw a fucking tantrum if I do…"
Monoyena grumbled to himself, his face looking more or less displeased.
"Fucking twink…" he muttered.
"W-Who's Stanley?" Kikuko asked.
"You'll find out soon enough!" Monoyena grinned, glancing to the side. "Fucking oriental asswipe…"
Kikuko did not like what Monoyena had called her.
"But first, please keep all hands and feet to yourselves!" Monoyena instructed. "And have a nice drop! I'll see ya wankers soon! Bwa… Bwahahahaha!"
Then, with that said, Monoyena immediately left, leaving the remaining 16 Ultimates behind, to their own vices. And at the moment, the variety of different emotions the remaining cast exhibited was immense. There were the ones that just couldn't bear to understand what the hell was going on…
"I-Is this real life?" Roderick grumbled to himself. "Nay, I must have fallen asleep on my fishing boat again. I… I must still be at sea once more. F-Fuck! Th-This be… This be…"
There were the ones that just couldn't handle the stress already…
"Two people… Mister Tetch… Hope…" Emmeline was trying hard to not cry at this point.
There were the ones that just didn't seem to mind anything…
"So, two people already bit the dust," Beauté noted, intrigued. "How interesting!"
And then there was the one dude that was freaking out…
"MISTER TETCH IS DEAD!" Daisuke screamed. "MISTER TETCH IS DEAD! HOPE IS DEAD! IS THIS REAL?! DID THEY REALLY JUST–?!"
"Hey, Kido," Issac sighed. "Isolde says, you need to shut the fuck up right now. You freaking out isn't helping anyone here."
"S-SPEAK FOR YOURSELF!" Daisuke shrieked. "Y-YOU DON'T HAVE AN HONEST-TO-GOD REAL CORPSE LAYING RIGHT NEXT TO YOU!"
"Er… yeah he does," Fábio closed his eyes, glancing away from Hope's charred body once more.
"T-Two people died…" Kazuki clenched his fist. "And yet… I could've done something to stop it had I not…"
Seemed like he was still upset over the results of the Minigame.
"Um, I do not mean to interrupt everyone's moment of distress," Manon spoke up, looking serious and her forehead slightly sweating. "But Monsieur Hyena mentioned something about having a nice drop. W-What did he mean by that?"
"Y-Yeah, you're right," Yumi lowered her cowgirl hat. "W-What exactly did that rascal mean by that…?"
"Perhaps it has something to do with our harnesses?" Yukihiko gestured to the harness that was strapping them to their seats safely. "Perhaps this entire fac–"
Click.
"H-Hm…?" Yukihiko blinked. "Did… anyone…"
"Yeah it was a click–" Alina nodded.
There was no time to finish that sentence.
…
Because shortly after that click, the entire room descended down like a bullet exiting the chamber of a gun. At its incredible speed, it wasn't hard to realize that what was happening now was that they were practically free-falling from who knows where!
"W-WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Daisuke screamed, his tears of terror flowing up at its extreme speeds.
"AGHHHHHHHH!" Alina screamed, noticing the corpses of Hope and Alvin floating in the air and soon closing her eyes.
"EEEEEEEEHHHHHHHH!" Manon screamed as well, noticing that those with long hair also had their hair floating upwards.
"ISOLDE HOLD ON TIGHT!" Issac focused more on making sure Isolde didn't float away.
"PLEASE PROTECT US, SIERYUU!" Kikuko yelled out a sudden prayer.
"AYE!" Roderick exclaimed. "THIS BE HARSHER THAN THE WINDS OF GNOOR!"
"WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!" Aidan turned to him as he hugged the harness tightly.
"OH HOW ELEGANTLY FUN!" Beauté seemed to be the only one who was enjoying this situation, raising up her arms to enjoy the thrill. Though, it did seem like she was enjoying the floating corpses more…
"W-WHEN DOES THIS THING STOP?!" Alisa exclaimed, feeling her heart pump faster than it ever did before.
The room continued to descend farther down.
Wherever they had been originally, had to have been really high up. The entire experience was nothing more than torturous fun as it felt as if they were simply descending down to Hell. And yet soon, some have begun to notice that everything that had once been floating was starting to float back down. The ride that they didn't even realize they were on was slowing down until finally…
…the ride slowly concluded.
…
Ding!
…
The room they were in made a classic elevator-styled ring, signaling them that they had arrived at where Monoyena had told them they would be dropping. They felt their harness loosen, signifying that the ride had stopped. A door opened, revealing an exit to what seemed to be the outside of the room. And as if everything being over wasn't painfully clear enough…
'Thank you for riding the beta test of our soon-to-be-newest installment to the Playground, the DL-6: Elevator Drop of Terror. Please remain seated until the harness loosens. Once the harness loosens, you are free to gather up any belongings you may have stowed away in your baskets. Please let us know how your experience has been on the Survey App of your eTicket! Your responses are always helpful to making Piero's Playground a fun, fun place!'
The masculine voice from the intercom continued.
'The DL-6 Experience was brought to you by the Towa Group. Making sure your drop is anything but a flop.'
…
It took a while for the group to recover from that terrifying drop.
In fact, the one who somehow took the most difficult was Riku, who released himself from his restraints, felt his heart, and allowed his eye to twitch.
"I… Hate… Rides… Like… Those…" Riku glared at no one in particular. He tapped the collar on his neck. "And why is this accursed thing still on me?!"
"It's not just you," Issac sighed. "It's on me and poor Isolde too..."
"A-A-A-A-A…." Daisuke was frozen.
During that drop, Alvin's charred corpse had flopped onto his lap, paralyzing the Fast-Food Employee in fear at the thought of indirectly touching a dead body. He couldn't formulate a response and instead, let his mind tremble at just how disturbing all of this was. He started to cry. All of this… It was too much for him…
"H-Here," Roderick slowly helped Daisuke by shoving the corpse off of his lap. However, it was clear that he had hesitated to do so. Even for someone who technically fished up giant fishes with his bare hands, an actual dead human body was just something else…
"T-Than–" Daisuke took off his harness and puked on the floor.
Oh yeah.
This was too much for him.
No, not just him.
For anyone.
"A-Are they really…" Emmeline couldn't even begin to walk. Her eyes were filled with tears as she sniffled. She couldn't believe all of the chaos that had occurred in the last 30-45 minutes. "A-Are they really…"
"H-Hey, Emmeline, was it?" Alina placed a hand on her back. She tried her best to give a smile toward the little butterfly girl. "D-Don't worry about it. I-It's… I-It's just… C-Come with me. W-We're going to leave this place alright? H-Hope and M-Mister T-Tetch they are um…"
She was struggling to come up with an excuse.
"Oh please, honey," Yukihiko shoved Alina to the side, closing his eyes. "She's not a child. She's at least 18. She can handle knowing that two people were just burned alive right in front of us."
"A-Agh… Aghhh…." Emmeline's eyes started to water.
"Look at what you did!" Alina looked at Yukihiko disapprovingly. "You know, for an Ultimate Child Caregiver, you're not very good at caregiving a child…"
She blinked and tapped her chin.
"If that made sense…" she muttered.
"As I said, she's not a child," Yukihiko scoffed, staring at his nails. "She's a grown lady now and she should act like one. So, either we move it or we stay here with rotting corpses."
"It doesn't sound like you're bothered by all this," Mara folded her arms, glancing at Yukihiko suspiciously.
"Oh sweetie, of course I am," Yukihiko smiled innocently. "But someone here has to act like the big boy here now that the biggest boy's been burnt to a crisp."
"The girl's right," Aidan nodded toward Yukihiko. "We should move it now. Staying here isn't going to do anything good for us! So, even though that Roderick guy might be a big boy and that Daisuke guy might be even bigger than the second biggest boy, I want to be the actual big boy and say that we should all leave this area!"
"I–" Yukihiko blinked before sighing and shaking his head.
"No time to disagree with that," Fábio moved away from Hope's blackened skeletal remains. "Let's move…"
With no time to waste, the group of 16 moved out of the door that had been preemptively opened for them…
(Central Plaza)
When they exited the building, one look behind them allowed them to see what exactly they had been trapped in: a circular-shaped building connected to a long beam that shot up at 300 feet into the air. In other words, what they had been trapped inside was nothing more than an extreme drop tower ride.
"W-Well I'll be," Yumi gasped. She tipped her Stetson hat down. "Ain't that one of them drop towers you see at them carnivals?"
"Yeah, but you usually see them inside an amusement park," Fábio pointed out, tucking his hands inside his pockets. "This is the first time I've seen one outside of one. Especially a really tall one too…"
"The voice did say it was a 'beta test'," Kikuko pointed out. "Perhaps that is why?"
"Well, whatever the case is, laddies," Roderick grumbled. "Based on where we are, we aren't in Hope's Peak or Toronto for that matter."
Roderick had a point.
Because upon exiting the DL-6 Drop Tower, they noticed all sorts of peculiar things.
For starters, the sky had turned dark. It was nighttime, making their earlier realization that it had been six hours since they last remembered themselves to being at Hope's Peak. Or at least…
"According to my pocket watch…" Alisa glanced at her pocket watch to calculate the time. "It has been approximately seven hours, 5 minutes, and 46 seconds since we were supposed to start class."
"And yet, we are here in an unknown place!" Manon blinked.
Glancing around, there were three notable locations of note.
To the right of the Drop Tower was a building of some sort. The building was labeled: "Hotel Mirai" and it was a relatively two-story building that sat across the notable location on the left.
To the left, it was a chained and taped up entrance to something that they couldn't yet see.
And finally, straight up ahead, past the middleground of everything in between, which by the way had a plus-shaped yellow star decorated on the floor, was what seemed to be some sandy beach shores. And now that they saw it, they heard it all too clear. The sound of sea waves. The sound of Poseidon's nature calling. A sound that caused Roderick to shiver slightly.
"W-What the…" Mara muttered. "Where even are we…?"
"I can answer that!"
"W-Who said that?" Mara quickly looked around.
The group moved up slowly, staying in the middle ground of it all as they glanced around. Hey, that rhymed! Anyway! The crackling noise of a dead intercom slowly sprung to life, allowing everyone to turn their attention to the chained and taped up entrance of something. And with that crackling, jaded intercom came something that sounded all too clearly…
…A jingle to a relatively old children's television show:
...
He's here! He's here!
He's here! He's here! He's here!
In a world of tears and laughter!
And a place before and after!
Comes someone who can make our sadness fade away…
In a world of hopes and fears!
Smile wide and wipe your tears!
Because he's here! He's here!
He's here! He's here! He's here!
(Who?!)
(Oh!)
Stanczyk says!
Stanczyk does!
Stanczyk plays…
With all of us!
Let's all smile and sing a cheer
Because Mister Stanczyk is here!
(Yaaaaaaay!)
…
"W…What in Sam Hill was that…?" Yumi blinked.
"Whatever it was, it sure sounded familiar..." Yukihiko noted to himself.
"It's my jingle!" the childish and eccentric voice came once again. "Do you like it?!"
Only this time, the voice didn't come from the intercom. No. After hearing it so close, the group was able to pinpoint where exactly the voice was coming from: behind them. Slowly turning around, the group equally shared the same nervous feeling they had as they feared what they may see standing right behind them…
…
…
…
"It's…" Alina widened her eyes.
"Is that…" Aidan blinked.
"Oh, hell no!" Fábio stepped back, widening his eyes. For what was standing behind them…
…
…
…
…was a jester.
"Hello hello!" the jester excitedly waved with a shit-eating grin on his face. "New friends! It's been so long since I've had any! I've been expecting your company for some time now! To see you all in the flesh! Oh this is so exciting!"
"Oh my," Beauté tilted her head, intrigued. "And who on Earth are you?"
"Y-You don't know me?" the jester gasped before grinning widely. "Come on, new friends! It's me! Stanczyk! Your new BeSt FRieND To ThE EnD!"
Notably, his voice and expression distorted for a brief moment.
…
(Stanczyk ~ The Best Friend to the End)
…
The jester-like figure known as Stanczyk had a cartoonish aura to his overall enthusiastic and joyish personality. Yet, even behind his never-wavering grin, there was still something ominous and off about him…
His jester mask/helmet was split into two halves and was very reminiscent of a typical cap and bell. The right side of his masked face, which was the side with a normal moon-shaped red eye, was white and had a horn that curved to his right. The left side of his masked face, which was the side with a golden plus-shaped eye, was dark blue that had a horn that curved to his left. Connecting the two halves was a single mouth that was set in a shit-eating grin at the moment and on each corner of his mouth were red blush marks connected that grin firmly to his mask. In the middle of his mask/helmet was a third horn extending out to the top and curving down at its tip. This third horn was symmetrically both white and dark blue. On the end of each horn were small sleigh bells that jingled whenever Stanczyk moved around.
Stanczyk himself stood at around 5'9, and had a relatively flexible and slim body. He wore a formal vest with light green and yellow stripes and underneath that vest was a light blue button-up with buttons on the end of his sleeves. He also wore white gloves, white equestrian pants and tall mahogany boots. He also wore a golden belt to keep his button-up tucked into his pants. By his neck was also a fluttering two-layered jabot with a small broach with that classic jagged red eye Monoyena had.
Covering the jabot and half of his clothing was a dark purple cloak that reached his ankles. The dark purple cloak was mostly gathered by his right shoulder and connected in place with a golden shoulder plate.
"B-Best friend to the end?" Emmeline seemed very interested in what he had said. If she needed anything to get her to forget about that terrifying scene before her, it would be this thing that stood in front of them. Then, in her attempt to forget, she remembered something anyway…
"And have you started your new fun life with only 15 people?" Monoyena perked his head before grinning. "Not a bad idea! Unfortunately, ol' Stanley might throw a fucking tantrum if I do…"
Monoyena grumbled to himself, his face looking more or less displeased.
"Fucking twink…" he muttered.
"W-Who's Stanley?" Kikuko asked.
"You'll find out soon enough!" Monoyena grinned. "Fucking oriental asswipe…"
"Oh!" Emmeline gasped. "Ol' Stanley! Is that you?!"
"Ol' Stanley?!" Stanczyk widened his red semi-circle-shaped eye, surprised by what she had called him. Then, slowly, he pouted and folded his arms like a child. "Awww! Come on! I'm not that old! Calling someone old can be very rude, y'know! I learned my lesson when I broke Old Man Jenkins' feelings!"
Stanczyk blinked.
"Oh… Oops!" Stanczyk smiled once more and rubbed the back of his neck with a notable blush forming over his red circular cheeks.
"Wait a minute, oh sweetie, I recognize you now!" Yukihiko blinked.
"Oh?" Stanczyk's mouth shifted to an o-shaped, showcasing his look of intrigue. "You do?"
"Yes, you're the main character of that canceled children's television series!" Yukihiko exclaimed. "Stanczyk Says! My siblings watch your reruns all the time!"
"Th-They do?!" Stanczyk gasped.
He stopped smiling and let his lips quiver. Notably, both of his eyes, his normal red one and the plus-shaped yellow one started to leak a watery liquid as he started to tremble. Were those his… tears?
"O-Oh… O-Oh…" Stanczyk trembled. "O-Oh that's so t-touching. Y-You've… Y-You've done it this time. O-Oh here comes the waterworks…"
"W-Wahhhhhhhhhhh!" Stanczyk started to sob, using his elbow to cover his weeping eyes. "Happy world! W-What a happy, happy world!"
"Tch, what a crybaby," Riku insulted, glaring at him in disdain.
Ripping off one layer of his jabot, he wiped his tears as elegantly as possible as he sniffled. He began to speak, allowing himself his misery to translate through his speech, creating an all-new pattern through his conversation.
"W-When my show got *hic* canceled," Stanczyk continued to wipe his tears. "I didn't know what to do *hic* for a long, long time! I thought I was going to be very, very *hic* lonely for the rest of my life…"
Stanczyk weakly smiled, allowing a single teardrop to hang from his plus-shaped eye.
"B-But look at this now!" Stanczyk smiled. "*hic* Here you are! *hic* My new best friends *sniffle* giving me the best news that a jester like me could ask for! O-Oh… Oh no… Here it comes again…"
This time, Stanczyk bursted into tears as he glanced up into the air and waved his ripped jabot layer as if he were asking for mercy.
"B-Bwaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh!" Stanczyk sobbed. "H-Happy day! W-What a happy, happy day!"
"I have never seen this 'Stanczyk Says' show but I have to ask you Westerners…" Kikuko glanced at him curiously. "Is this character always this… annoying?"
"Eh, never seen it," Aidan shrugged.
"Never aired in Brazil," Fábio turned away, a little uncomfortable by this jester.
"Annoying?" Manon shook her head, finding him relatively endearing. "Non, non, non! This is eccentricism at its finest! I loved watching him with my… famille!"
No one seemed to notice her slight hesitation as they were mostly focused on the jester sobbing his heart away. Then, using that cloth he had ripped from his jabot, he blew into his… nonexistent nose… and tucked the cloth back where he had retrieved it from.
"Ohhhh, I haven't cried like this in a long time!" Stanczyk flicked a stray tear away with a happy smile. "I'm so sorry about that! I was just really happy to finally have some new best friends! I promise you, best friends! You and I are going to be the best of PlAyMAteS FOreVeR aNd EveR!"
Stanczyk's neck twitched as his voice distorted once more. If anyone had caught on quick enough, they would've also seen his red eye flicker slightly.
"Um, Mister Stanley," Emmeline raised her hand. "C-Can I call you Mister Stanley?!"
"Of course, little girl!" Stanczyk extended his arm in a cheer. "You can call me whatever you want! Stanczyk! Stanley! Stanford! Stan! As long as it's appropriate and nice! Because remember, being nice can scare away the lice!"
"That was the lesson taught in Season 3, Episode 21," Yukihiko nodded with a small smile. "'Stanczyk Gets Hair Lice.'"
"O-Ohhhhh you remember!" Stanczyk giggled. His lips quivered once more. "O-Oh no… H-Here it comes again…"
Stanczyk's eyes started to leak tears.
"T-To think you would remember…" Stanczyk stared at his hands as tears started to stream down his mask. "O-Oh how it makes me cry tears of joy… O-Oh! J-Joyful day! J-Joyful day!"
Based on first impressions alone, no one was exactly sure what to make of this person. Yukihiko could tell that Stanczyk acted much like his cartoon counterpart, but the only thing different about him was… that broach he wore. The broach with the jagged red thing on it. The same thing that…
…Hyena thing wore as its eye.
And it didn't seem like he was the only one who noticed either. Roderick stepped up to speak about this.
"Aye, by the way," Roderick grumbled. "You wouldn't happen to be working with any hyenas, are ye?"
"Hyena?" Stanczyk perked his head before smiling wildly. "Oh! You mean Monoyena?! Have you seen him?!"
Stanczyk's face slowly frowned.
"He always runs off and has fun without me," Stanczyk pouted. "And to think he did the same thing just now! Right when we have a bunch of important guests too! The rudeness of that little guy! Hmph!"
The group glanced at each other uncomfortably.
It didn't take long for everyone to be on the same wavelength about this, because if he knew Monoyena by name, that can't be good news for them.
"Um, non, we have not seen any hyena around for zat matter," Manon stepped up to play along with this. It was best that she did it. After all! She was Manon Vivienne Levesque! The Ultimate Actress! "But we will let you know once we do! So, perhaps we should all leave and be on our way! It was very nice to meet you, Monsieur Stanczyk!"
Manon gave a mock curtsy.
"Aye, maybe the beach has a boat of some kind so we can sail off toward new land," Roderick agreed.
"E-Eh?" Stanczyk blinked. "Y-You're leaving? B-But you just got here! D-Don't you children want to spend time with me? M-Maybe we can do some fun activities!"
Stanczyk pulled out an assortment of items of nowhere, his voice seeming desperate.
"I… I have coloring books!" Stanczyk exclaimed. "H-How about paint?! F-For your nails?! O-Ooh, m-maybe some jigsaw puzzles?! I got R-Rubix cubes! I-Ice cream?!"
"Uhh, thanks for the offer, but we really have to be going!" Alisa pointed out. "W-We are really in a hurry. A-After all, we have only 10 minutes before our scheduled appointment!"
Alisa cursed to herself. No one was going to believe that lie because she didn't specify the seconds!
Unfortunately, that didn't matter anyway, because the farther they walked toward the beach, the more Stanczyk's eyes started to tear up and the more he tried to extend his arms, practically begging them to come back.
"W-Wait, d-don't leave please…" Stanczyk's lips quivered. "B-Best friends! P-Please!"
Stanczyk tightened his fist.
And immediately, he blocked their path to the beach, his head tilting and his eyes glowing dark. There was a notable gloom to his expression as he stared at them with desperate anger and frustration.
"I SaID DoN'T gO!" Stanczyk's distorted voice hissed. "No OnE LEaVeS UnLeSs I SaY SO!"
Everyone froze.
For a weeping jester, this was the last thing they expected to see from him. And boy, was it enough to get them to stop moving and take a step back from him. Just based on how much he was fidgeting, it was clear they were dealing with someone who was very deranged.
"A-Ah… I… Oops… Th-That was so… That was so mean of me…" Stanczyk's eyes started to tear up. "I didn't mean to be mean to you like that. I'm… I'm sorryyyyyyyyyyy!"
Stanczyk started to bawl once again.
And now, the group just didn't know what to do with this clown in the way. At least, not until a familiar voice reappeared that made everyone quake and shiver. A familiar voice they hoped they wouldn't have to hear…
…
"Well, well, you fucking wanks really made the little twink cry did ya?"
As expected, Monoyena walked up between the weeping Stanczyk and the group of 16 with that sadistic grin of his. He chortled at Stanczyk's constant tears and the fear that was emanating from the group. Though, it would be easy for someone to just go and punt Monoyena across–
"Hey!" Aidan clenched his fist and dashed up toward Monoyena. "Now that we aren't bound to those seats, I can finally punt this little guy for what he did to Hope and the Teach!"
–Aidan got ready to kick Monoyena and ignore what I was about to say. So, as a result, we're just gonna have him figure out why doing this would be such a bad idea.
Before Aidan could even reach Monoyena, he hopped into the air and landed directly on top of his shoulders, pressing his signature Barbie Blade against his throat. Noticing everyone, including Stanczyk, tense up in shock, with some even preparing to save Aidan, Monoyena snarled at them.
"Take one step closer and I'll fucking slit this dickhead's throat!" Monoyena snarled. "And I don't think you wankers need to lose three shitstains in one day, do ya?"
The group froze as they thought back to Hope and Alvin getting fried to a perfect crisp.
"Three people?" Stanczyk tilted his head before glancing back at the group. That's when he gasped and snapped back to Monoyena with tears starting to form from his eyes. "Y-You mean… Y-You went and…"
"Oh no, here we go again," Monoyena sighed, keeping the blade firmly pressed against the shaking Aidan's neck and rolling his eyes. "Yeah yeah, I went ahead and killed two fucking knobs because I felt like it. So what?"
"W-We were supposed to have fun together!" Stanczyk's lips quivered before he started to outright sob uncontrollably and stomp on the ground like a child. "M-Monoyena! Y-You always leave me out of the really fun stuff! W-Waaaaaaaahhhh!"
"W-Well, do you want to be the one to slit this fucker in the throat?" Monoyena grumbled irritably.
"B-But slitting throats is your thing, not mine!" Stanczyk's let stray tears trail down his cheek.
"Then quit fucking complaining!" Monoyena yelled, slapping himself in the forehead with his free paw. "Crikeys! Sometimes I wish you were fucking aborted!"
"Th-Th-That's so MEAAAAAAAN!" Stanczyk sobbed, letting tears burst out of his eyes.
"W-Why does it feel like I'm watching a really bad duo comedy act," Fábio scratched the side of your chin.
"T-There's nothing comedic about having a Barbie Doll pressed against my neck!" Aidan gulped.
"J-Just stay calm Aidan!" Alina called out. "D-Don't give him any reason to want to hurt you more!"
"E-Easier said than done…" Aidan started to shake.
"Anyway, while we let that fucking pussy go at it, let's get one thing straight here," Monoyena turned back to the group after glancing at the sobbing Stanczyk. "You're in my land now! Which means attacking me… and I guess that cumstain over there…"
He pointed toward Stanczyk.
"Is off fucking limits!" Monoyena exclaimed. He snarled inside Aidan's ear. "I catch ya doing something shitty like this again, I'll cut off your ears, gouge out your eyeballs, and fucking paste them to your fucking dick! Got it, ya fucking cunt?"
"L-Loud and clear!" Aidan mocked saluted.
Then, the Ultimate Track Star was pushed onto the ground with everyone else rushing toward his aid. Aidan also noticed that his neck had a minor cut on it, allowing it to bleed slightly. It seemed that Monoyena just couldn't resist dealing at least a little damage to him. Sighing and picking his teeth with the same blade he had just used to threaten Aidan with, Monoyena walked over to Stanczyk.
"Now then!" Monoyena walked back and forth. "You twats are probably wondering why you're here! Simply put, you're all here to play a big fucking game! You see, you got to have your fun with a game you all recognize but here, you get to have fun with a game I fucking love!"
Monoyena leaned forward, exposing every one of his sharp teeth and slobbering all over the floor as he revealed what the game was.
"A good ol' classic, Killing Game!" Monoyena exclaimed.
"Ooh, I love this game!" Stanczyk suddenly stood up, his tears subsiding and his shit-eating grin returning once again. "T-Tell them the rules Monoyena! Tell them! Tell them!"
"I was going to, ya fucking shithead!" Monoyena growled toward Stanczyk.
This time, Stanczyk didn't cry as he was just too excited for Monoyena to reveal the game to them. Snarling, he continued.
"Anyway, the game is fucking simple," Monoyena stated. "You see all them chains and tapes right? Tomorrow, the game will start and the chains and tapes will be removed. That's when you wankers get to enter the Killing Game Arena!"
"The Killing Game Arena?" Issac raised an eyebrow. "What is that exactly?"
"It's only the most joyous place in the entire world!" Stanczyk excitedly stated, his grin widening. "The one! The only! Piero's Playground! An amusement park made for the sole purpose of giving the young children of the world a fun, fun time!"
Stanczyk wiped a stray tear slowly seeping out his plus-shaped eye.
"It's so glorious…" Stanczyk sniffled.
"Yeah, well, that place is now going to be a place where you can shed blood and do whatever the fuck you want with each other," Monoyena growled. "Because the Killing Game Arena is exactly as it sounds! It's a fucking arena where you are allowed to kill each other! Kill each other outside of Whoever the Fuck's Playground, and you'd be breaking the fucking rules!"
"Interesting," Beauté was beginning to smile. "So, in other words, the Killing Game can only happen inside Piero's Playground. Making this outside area, the Safe Zone."
"Exactly!" Monoyena grinned. "Just what I expected to hear from the bitch-faced freak!"
"Ah heh heh heh, your insults still remain… inelegant," Beauté leaned forward with a smile on her face. Once again, no one could tell whether she was annoyed or actually happy with it.
"O-Okay but how are we just dishing over the obvious here?!" Daisuke exclaimed. "W-What the heck is a Killing Game?!"
"Oh my, you don't know?" Beauté gasped. She flung out her hand fan and covered the lower part of her face, in order to gaze at the Fast-Food Employee with a pitiful look. "How pitiful."
"A-And you do?!" Yumi glanced at the mysterious Ultimate in shock.
"A Killing Game is a game where you must kill each other in order to escape!" Stanczyk exclaimed cheerfully. "Our Killing Game is mostly the same as most other typical Killing Games! When you murder one of your own, you become the NaUgHtY UnKnOwn…. The Blackened!"
Stanczyk's voice distorted, allowing Monoyena to take over.
"Once the murdered body is discovered, everyone goes into an Investigation Period," Monoyena grinned sadistically. "The Blackened's job is to try to get away with their murder, while everyone else has to figure out who the Blackened is in our Playhouse Trial! Nab the fucker who killed one of your own, and they get punished… But nab the wrong one…"
"I… I hope you don't nab the wrong one," Stanczyk sniffled. "B-Because if you do…"
"Everyone but the Blackened gets fucked!" Monoyena exclaimed, drool seeping out of his widening sadistic grin. "And not in the good fucking way mind ya!"
"And by punishment and getting fucked you mean…" Issac narrowed his eyes.
"Execution," Monoyena leaned forward, his gaze darkening and his red jagged eye glowing. His voice started to lust for more of that bloodshed.
"E-Execution?!" Daisuke exclaimed, nearly fainting.
"N-No way," Alina covered her mouth.
"A-Ahhhh… W-Why is this…" Emmeline started to shake.
"B-By execution, you don't mean…" Aidan gulped.
"Oh come on!" Monoyena groaned. "Did you not see what I fucking did to two of you cunts today?! I can do so much worse than just incinerate the fuck out of ya! I can electrify ya till your eyeballs fucking implode! I can cut ya up and hang you with your own intestines! I can even fucking drown ya… in hot, boiling lava if ya want! Bwa… Bwahahahahaha!"
"N-No… NoWayNoWayNoWay!" Daisuke shook his head, terrified.
"That's the rules of the Killing Game!" Stanczyk grinned. "We're going to have so much fun together!"
"Keh, I don't think you two idiots realize that there is a certain flaw in your little game," Riku stared at Stanczyk and Monoyena with a hollow expression.
"A f-flaw?!" Stanczyk gasped.
"W-What do you mean, Riku?" Roderick turned to the Doctor with a shifty expression.
"One of the things that was mentioned was that the Killing aspect of the Killing Game can only occur in the Killing Game Arena," Riku pointed out. "Simply put, as long as everyone stays out here, no one can really play along with their pesky game."
"But then, no one also gets the chance to escape," Issac noted as well. "So, it's more of a stalemate than an actual flaw."
"Hmph, nonsense," Riku scoffed. "It's still a flaw nonetheless because these two simpletons expect us to kill each other. And if the only place we are allowed to kill each other is inside Piero's Playground…"
Riku's eyes narrowed, allowing him to smile sinisterly.
"...Then I'll play this my way and simply stay out here, where it's safe," Riku smiled.
"He is right, you know," Beauté remarked, folding her arms pompously. "It's not much fun if you allow others to just stay out here in the Safe Zone."
"Lassie, don't be giving them any ideas!" Roderick pointed his finger.
"Oh, but I'm just saying," Beauté sighed, placing the side of her head on the palm of her hands. "As someone who is elegantly intrigued… I think there should be a change in rules, no?"
"Bwa… Bwahahahahaha!" Monoyena burst out laughing.
"W-What's so funny?" Alisa grimaced toward the hyena.
"Do you really think we're a bunch of fucking amateurs?!" Monoyena grinned sadistically. "Of course, we thought of this little loophole! That's why we prepared a special motive just for this instance! Because, I'll have you know, there's a reason why we mentioned that our Killing Game is mostly the same!"
"Oooh, is it Show N Tell already?!" Stanczyk looked ecstatic.
"Sh-Show N Tell?" Manon blinked.
What now?
Then, the monitors that were looming over the chains and tape that covered up the entrance to Piero's Playground began to play… and what was on it was enough to send shivers down their spine. Or rather, who was on it:
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…
…a little boy, as young as 10-years old, on the ground and hugging his knees as he buried his face in his own arms.
Alina froze, slightly tightening her fist.
"Th-That's a–" Roderick widened his eyes.
"N-No, y-you didn't!" Emmeline covered her mouth.
"D-Did you two kidnap a child?!" Yukihiko's face looked extremely displeased. "And not only that, you're using this child for your sick and twisted–"
"Y-You guys are…" Aidan widened his eyes.
"If you want to save this poor little boy, you'll have to enter Piero's Playground and search for him!" Stanczyk exclaimed excitedly, tilting his head slightly as his red eye glowed dark and his voice started to distort. "THaT iS…. If YoU WaNt To SaVE HiM…"
Stanczyk leaned forward as he stopped grinning.
"BeCaUsE, tHat'S WhAT OuR KiLLinG GaMe iS All ABouT…" Stanczyk continued, his voice remaining distorted. "JuSt HoW MuCH oF YoUR HaPPineSS ArE YoU WiLLinG tO SacRiFIcE to PuT a SMILE oN A LittLe BoY's FaCE…?"
Stanczyk's distorted face shifted to that shit-eating grin he wielded.
"Play along with our game with the hopes to save the little boy!" Stanczyk extended his arms with a cheer before shifting. "Or DoN'T… ThE ChOIcE is YouR tOy…"
"You wanks will make your decision tomorrow!" Monoyena cackled. "But choose wisely. Cause who knows? You might make the same fucking mistake as your cunt of a teacher did! And I know you kids don't want to be a group of fucking hypocrites, now do ya…?"
Monoyena allowed his twisted grin to widen before he started cackling like crazy.
"Bwa… Bwahahahahahahaha!" Monoyena exclaimed. "That's all we have left to say! So take the time to think about it closely! StanShit and I'll be waiting…"
"H-Hey, that's not very nice!" Stanczyk pouted toward Monoyena.
"Oh, go suck some tits, ya limp-dick himbo," Monoyena flipped him off.
"Th-That's so mean!" Stanczyk yelped as the jester and the hyena slowly walked away to who knows where, leaving the group behind to stare at the monitor in shock.
The young boy moved around in the footage.
From the looks of it, the room he was held in was filled with toys of every kind. A TV was turned on inside as the young boy's only source of light. Everything else in the room looked jaded and worn out. And all the young boy could really do in that footage was sob. Though there was no sound in the footage, it was all too clear to everyone that they had to do something.
Something to help the boy.
Right?
"W-What do we do guys?" Daisuke gulped. "If we go in there… We might suffer the same fate as…"
He thought back to Hope and Alvin, both of whom had just gone ahead and died so suddenly…
"Aye, but if we don't…" Roderick grimaced. "Then that laddie…"
"Ah heh heh heh," Beauté giggled to herself.
In fact, throughout everything that had happened to them in this one day, her giggles had been nothing but a signature thing everyone had noticed. And it was about time someone had called her out on it. Who else would that be but Aidan himself, who tightened his fist and glared at her.
"Hey, you!" Aidan glared, storming up to her. "Is this funny to you?! Lives were at stake before and now, it's a child's life! How can you laugh at a time like this?!"
"Oh my," Beauté smirked to herself. "Clearly I have done much to cause you all stress. I do apologize but simply put, there is quite a reason why I am enjoying myself here…"
"And what would that be?" Mara frowned toward her.
"Because I have long been wondering when I would finally be captured and thrown into one of these…" Beauté smiled with mirth.
"One of these?" Kikuko blinked. "You mean…"
"A Killing Game!" Beauté placed her hands over her cheeks as she started to blush furiously, her smile becoming as twisted as Stanczyk's distorted face and Monoyena's sadistic grins. "Oh how I dreamed I would finally be able to participate in one! And what an exciting and elegant one this is! A Killing Game based on sacrifice! Whatever shall we do?! Will someone kill someone for this young boy to live?! Or are we all going to be just as cruel as Mister Tetch was… and simply let him perish?! That's the mystery, isn't it?!"
"This bambina… She ain't right…" Yumi noted, freaked out.
Beauté couldn't help but giggle excitedly.
Whatever thoughts may lie in her head, everyone was forced to agree that the questions Beauté had spouted were definitely questions they had to think about when it came to this Killing Game. And with her questions, came the question that Stanczyk had asked them all when he revealed the existence of the young boy.
Just how much happiness would they sacrifice to put a smile on a little boy's face?
Just how much would they sacrifice… to save the life of a child…?
Sacrifice.
That was the game.
That was this game.
That was their New Life here…
In the Piero's Playground Killing Game…
(?)
Nick hugged his knees, letting tears stain his pants. The TV played another episode of Stanczyk Says. He's already distracted himself with three of them. The episode playing right now though, he just didn't care. All he cared about was leaving. Leaving wherever he was right now. He thought back to everyone.
His friends.
His mother.
His father.
People who would be worried sick about him.
And slowly, he let tears slowly stream out of his eyes as he whimpered and sobbed in the dimly lit corner of his otherwise darkened room. The TV was the only thing that gave him light, exhibiting just how miserable he truly was…
"...Mommy…" Nick weeped. "I miss you…"
"Shhh, don't cry. You're not alone here…"
Nick looked up.
"Huh?" Nick slowly wiped his tears.
"There are others with you, so don't cry…"
"O-Others too?" Nick sniffled. "W-Who are you…?"
"Oh come on, don't you recognize my voice Nicky…?"
Nick widened his eyes.
He did!
He didn't realize it because it was a whisper but… He absolutely did!
"H-He got you too…?"
…
…
…
DANGANRONPA: TWISTED TRAGEDY
FINALLY! This Prologue Part took so much longer than I thought ;-; I guess that's what happens when you have two executions in one chapter, whoops ;D But yeah, Prologue has officially ended and we're moving into Chapter 1 soon!
However, as I still have much to think for Chapter 1, I will be shifting my focus to Corrupted Hope for the time being. Chapter 5 is nearing completion, so I want to get that done first before I start writing for the next chapter of Twisted Tragedy :D So updates for this story will slow down a bit and especially with classes starting for me, we'll also have to see just how frequent I update for this story :D
Now then, you're all probably coming to me with "WHAT THE FUCK?! WHY DID YOU KILL OFF HOPE?! ALVIN, I KINDA SAW COMING, BUT HOPE?!". I'll explained but first, thank you to both MrAwesome1999 for gifting me Hope and DarkAngelOfSorrows for co-creating Alvin with me. That's right, Angel co-created Alvin with me. And Hope? She was a plant for the application process. In other words, the true number of actual applicants in this fic was actually 16, under the guise of 18. Why did I do this? Because when I was brainstorming ideas for Twisted Tragedy, I wanted a teacher involved in the game that would be killed off super early. Obviously, I couldn't just ask anyone because it wouldn't be fair if I just went ahead and killed off just anyone's character from the get-go. Can you imagine how pissed off their submitter would be?
Hence, why I went to Angel and Awesome for help, two of my longest-known friends. Angel helped give me the character I wanted for my vision: a handsome teacher that everyone could be horny for that also wasn't entirely a good person, which is something foreshadowed constantly through the Prologue. However, I also realized that if I had a teacher like this and especially if the numbers got to 17 people, the Hot Potato game, which I've planned for a long time, just wouldn't work. Everyone would've expected the teacher dying outcome. And it would've lessened the intensity of the Hot Potato game. This is where Hope came in. I asked Awesome for a character that he wouldn't mind me killing off super damn early.
That character was Hope.
I gave her enough for people to know who she is and then just like that, she died thanks to Alvin Tetch, unexpectantly. And in the end, it didn't matter because Alvin died anyway. Why did I want to actually kill people in the Prologue? Well, just to show that compared to Monohebi or Monokuma, Monoyena is fucking vicious. That's pretty much it ;D
Speaking of Monoyena, I am very worried on how everyone might think about him because there are some stuff that he says that is not okay. He's supposed to be very vicious who does not hold back with insults and is supposed to be the most psychotic out of every one of my MonoMascots that I have planned. Because of him, I had to place a Mega Warning, so thanks a lot Monoyena!
As for Stanczyk, what a sweet boy! Hope you like him too :D
Anyway, please leave me your thoughts about the Chapter! Like it? Hate it? Indifferent? What'd you think of Monoyena? Stanczyk? How did I do with your character? Need something fixed? Let me know! I'll do whatever it takes to make sure things are to your liking :D
But until then, Chapter 1 will come soon ;D
Playmates Remaining: 16
Aidan Brighton - The Ultimate Track Star [Omakin]
Alina Summers - The Ultimate Maestro [Otterplay]
Alisa Zachary - The Ultimate Clockmaker [ExtraMeme]
Beautè Morose - The Ultimate ? [Grandma Sue]
Daisuke Kido - The Ultimate Fast-Food Employee [CandleFire45]
Emmeline Swan - The Ultimate Lepidopterist [Prince PokePersona]
Fábio Barbosa - The Ultimate Figure Skater [Rayy12]
Issac Santiago - The Ultimate Toymaker [oddlyillregular]
Kazuki Nobukatsu - The Ultimate Philanthropist [emberblitz321]
Kikuko Unmei - The Ultimate Shrine Priestess [WolfieRed23]
Manon Vivienne Levesque - The Ultimate Actress [Sempi]
Marabel "Mara" Garcia - The Ultimate Karate Master [Epifanio Therion]
Riku Arakawa - The Ultimate Doctor [theotakureader101]
Roderick Cutler - The Ultimate Deep Sea Fisherman [Orlando Butler]
Yukihiko Yuno - The Ultimate Child Caregiver [Weekaro]
Yumi Gundo - Ultimate Gunslinger [MrUtenaHolic]