Chapter Three: The Double Despair
Rubble's POV
I asked, "Why are you being so nice to me and defending me?". Blue said, "Because I know you're a good kid Rubble.". How does he know that? We barely talked and we didn't know each other before this. I said, "How do you know? We don't even know anything about each other!". Blue said, "I know it in my heart. Look, I can tell you're stressed and confused. Helping kids is something I love to do! Especially after I got your secret on the first motive I knew there's a lot troubling you. I want to take time to help you! I want to get to know you and maybe become friends. Please let me help.". Nobody has ever said stuff like that to me before. I don't know what to say or how to feel. I said, "I-I um don't know what to say…". Blue said, "I'll let you take some time to think about it.". He headed for the dining room.
I stood there for a minute trying to think. Then I heard my stomach rumble. I decided to go to the dining room as well. When I entered the room, everyone noticed me. Their faces turned into an awkward tone. I don't blame them, I almost got accused of murder twice now and they now know my secret. I do really appreciate Blue for not telling anyone. Ender looked away from me ashamed. He probably regrets what he did in the trial. I honestly don't know how to feel about him right now. That tall blocky slenderman has been on my case since day one! Now that he knows the truth hopefully he leaves me be. The only one missing other than the skeleton and the siblings was Carrie. I was surprised that she wasn't sitting next to Ender.
Red Yoshi said, "Hey Rubble! We thought you were gonna lock yourself in your room. I'm glad to see you!". I didn't reply. Blue said, "I think we should leave him be for right now. Hey Ender, where is Carrie?". Ender sighed and said, "She locked herself in her room.". Sonic asked, "Why did she do that?". Ender said, "She's blaming herself for getting Purple and Mr. Krabs killed. I kept telling her it wasn't her fault but she's too stressed to listen to me right now.". Zeke said, "That's why she ran away so fast.". Skylar said as he came in, "Wow you really are a blockhead!". Zeke said, "Look who it is. Here to steal my food too like you did with my stuff?!". Skylar said, "One; I don't need to eat and two; it was just one stupid spray can! Plus I helped us out a lot with that spray can!". Zeke aggressively said, "I don't care! DON'T YOU DARE STEAL MY STUFF EVER AGAIN!". Blue said, "Guys it's too late for this. Can we please not fight after what just happened.". Hearing the fighting between those two is so annoying! I hate how my dorm is in between those two.
I finally decided to take my seat. Of course I sat away from everyone but I could still hear everything. They were talking for a few minutes and then the siblings came in with dinner. Tonight's dinner was pizza. Ender took two plates of pizza and teleported away. I'm guessing he's going to Carrie's dorm. I ate my dinner while everyone was talking. Sonic asked, "So how does everyone feel about Purple's secret?". Tails responded, "Not good Sonic.". Jolt said, "We've been bonding and living with a serial killer this whole time! He was probably planning to commit a murder since day one!". Blue said, "Let's just be glad that he's been stopped before he actually did.".
I have to agree with what Blue just said. After I finished my dinner I left the dining room. I was taking a walk through the school. After a few minutes, I was approached by Ender. He said "Hey Rubble can I have a word with you real quick?". I turned around and said, "What is there more stuff that I'm hiding from you?". I'm clearly still not happy with him. You can't blame me! He shared my secret with everyone and tried to accuse me of murder! He said, "No. I just want to apologize for my behavior today. What I did today was not right and it was not like me at all.". I told him, "I don't know if I can accept your apology right now.". Ender said, "I understand. I just want let you know that I'm not like that. I can behave and I'll start treating you better, I promise.". He teleported away after he said that, I don't think he's a bad guy but I don't know if I should forgive him.
I continued my walk. I walked for around 10 more minutes. I was walking on the second floor and I bumped into Kamek. I said, "OW! Oh, sorry.". Kamek said, "Rubble the pup of mysteries and secrets, how are you?". I don't know how to feel about the title he gave me. He asked, "Ok, can I ask you about the killing game you wer-". I interrupted him by saying "NO!". He asked, "Why don't you want to talk about it? The information you have could help us escape!". I said, "Look wizard, the information I have is either too risky or stuff you already know! Plus the gruesome events that I had to experience is stuff I never want to bring up ever again! Please don't ask me about it again!". As I walked away I heard him say, "Wow that pup has a mature way to speak for his age.".
I went to my dorm right after that interaction. I wanted to spend the rest of the night in my dorm alone. When I entered my dorm at 8:38 pm, I started to get ready to go to sleep. After I got ready I layed down in my bed and shut my eyes. I couldn't sleep though, there's a lot going on in my mind! Especially the conversation I had with Blue before dinner. It took me around three hours to go to sleep. Once I actually went to sleep, the day finally ended.
The stupid wake up call woke me up. I walked out my room and I saw Rainer and Blue heading towards the stairs. They must be going to the new floor. I walked up to them and they noticed me. Blue said, "Good morning bud! How was your sleep?". I said, "Same as always, terrible. Hey can I join you two on exploring the new floor?". They looked surprised at my question and Rainer said, "YOU want to come with US?". I said, "Yes I do.". Blue said, "Of course you can join but why do you want to?". I said, "I have my reasons.". Blue said, "Ok well let's go!". We headed for the staircase and went up to the third floor.
When we arrived on the third floor we went to the room that was across from the staircase. The room was the rec room. It was a room with a pool table and a weird box with speakers and a small rectangle door. The walls were blue and the wall that was across from the pool table had a Hope's Peak logo on it. I wanted to destroy the logo but I'm pretty sure that'll get me killed. Rainer said, "Well we can play pool if we wanted to.". I said, "I never played that game.". Rainer said, "It can be fun, you should learn.". Blue said, "Look at this over here. Is it like a radio?". I said, "I really don't care for that machine. Plus Monokuma probably did something to it.". Blue said, "Fair point. Let's move on to the next room.".
We exited the rec room and headed towards the right side. It led to two rooms but both were just classrooms. Blue said, "I guess every floor has classrooms.". Rainer said, "It is a school, so it makes sense.". We left the classrooms since there isn't anything interesting in them. We headed back towards the left side. The next room we found was an art room. It was full of canvases and art supplies on shelves. The teacher's desk was centered in front of all of the canvases. Red Yoshi, Rocky, and Sonic were in the room. Sonic said, "Hey Rainer, Blue and Rubble?". I can tell that they didn't expect to see me with them.
Blue asked, "Did you guys find anything useful?". Red Yoshi said, "No, it's just a normal art classroom.". Sonic said, "Tails is looking in that room over there.". As soon as he said that, Tails walked out of the room. Sonic asked, "Tails, did you find anything little buddy?". Tails said, "No it's just full of art supplies like crayons, color pencils, paint,-". I said, "I think we get the point.". Red Yoshi said, "We kinda guessed that there wouldn't be much in the art room.". Blue said, "We'll see you guys at breakfast, we're gonna check out the other rooms.". They said bye to us and we left.
We continued down the hallway, and there was a big empty space next to the art room. I wonder why there was a big empty space but I don't think it matters. We continued until we found Zeke trying to open the staircase to the next floor again. I said, "Zeke you should know by now that won't work right?". He said, "With that attitude it won't!". He continued to pull the door handle. I do not want to deal with this again so I told Rainer and Blue that we should continue. We found the next room. The next and probably last room was the physics lab.
The physics lab had a giant machine in the center, shelves that had supplies on them and cabinets. Carrie, Ender, and Skylar were in the room too. Carrie said, "Oh hey guys.". Blue asked her, "Hey Carrie are you ok?". Carrie said, "I guess…". She didn't sound ok. Ender looked at me and said, "Rubble, um hi.". I didn't answer. I guess I was still a little mad after yesterday. You can't blame me. Kamek walked out of a room that was inside of that room. Kamek said, "That room is a storage room for the lab.". Blue asked, "What's with the machine in the middle?'. Monokuma said, "I can answer that!". Monokuma jumped up from the floor. Kamek said, "Great you're here!". Monokuma said, "You bet that my beautiful self is here! Now to answer your question, that's is called an air purifier!". Carrie asked, "An air purifier?". Blue asked, "Why does the school have an air purifier?". Monokuma said, "To make sure you guys have nice clean air to breathe! You don't want to breathe in gross dirty air, right? It'll be like eating dirty food!". I'm really tired of Monokuma's stupid comments!
Ender said, "Well the third floor doesn't have anything useful to our escape either.". I said, "None of the floors will have a way for us to escape. Monokuma just cares about trapping us here forever, so we'll go crazy and kill someone!". Blue looked at me with a concerned face. He could tell that I'm very stressed. I said, "I'm going to the kitchen to get a drink. See you at the motive announcement.". As I walked out, I heard Carrie said, "Oh no! I forgot about the motive announcement today!". I could tell she was scared. I left the room and headed for the staircase.
I walked to the kitchen and I overheard Flame's and Jolt's conversation. Flame said, "Do you think he was planning on-". Jolt said, "Flame calm down! I know what we learned was terrifying and shocking but if we keep thinking about that, it'll drive us crazy and make us so scared! Let's keep our minds off of it!". They didn't notice me grabbing a water from the fridge. Then that stupid ding dong bing bong noise played. Monokuma told us to meet in the gym for the next motive. The three of us headed to the gym.
After like seven minutes, we were all at the gym. By now we all know the drill. Monokuma popped out of the floor again and said, "Hello students! Congrats on surviving the second class trial!". Kamek said, "It wasn't the second for everyone.". That wizard was clearly talking about me. I wanted to slap him, but I couldn't be bothered to. Skylar said, "Can we just move on?! What stupid motive do you have for us this time?!". Monokuma said, "Of course! Everyone check your motive file in your handbook but don't read it out loud! It'll ruin the surprise, and I'll have to punish ya!". Then we all opened our handbooks and checked the motive file. The file says, "Motive #3: Targets! Look below to see who your target is! Don't tell anyone!". Targets? Are we becoming hitmen now?
Jolt asked, "What is this? Why do we have targets?". Monokuma said, "Your motive is that each of you has someone as a target! Which means someone has you as their target!". Kamek said, "Let me guess, we have to kill our targets.". Monokuma giggled and said, "Correct, you are Ultimate Wizard!". Tails asked, "What stops us from making a pact to not kill each other? What will convince us to kill our target?". Monokuma said, "I'm glad you asked that Ultimate Engineer! Every three days if no one has died, you all will be given a punishment!". Carrie yelled, "YOU'RE GONNA EXECUTE US!". Monokuma laughed and said, "No, No, No, You'll just be getting tortured!". I don't know if I believe him. Monokuma continued, "And if you tell someone who your target is, then you'll get executed!". Blue said, "So we have secret targets we have to kill before every third day or you'll torture us?". Monokuma said, "Yep that is correct! Don't want things to get boring if you guys make that stupid pact the fox mentioned! I'm going to head out, have fun with the motive! Catch ya later!". He jumped and disappeared through the floor like he always does.
The looks on all our faces looked the same every time this happens. I bet this time; everyone is even more nervous than usual. Someone is tasked to kill me and I got tasked to kill someone else! This is bad for me! I know my possible killer wouldn't have much trouble killing me since I haven't been social with these people! Thinking about this has made me even more nervous! Then I realized I didn't even check who I got as my target. I then opened my handbook and went back to the motive file. I then saw who I got as my target. M-My target is B-Blue! Why does it have to be the person here who is treating me with kindness?! Why do I have to kill the person that I have no idea how to feel about yet?! W-Why do I care about this so much?!
I feel so stressed about the stupid motive! Then I heard Blue ask, "Hey Rubble are you ok?". As soon as he said that, I snapped out of my deep thoughts. Apparently me and him are the only ones left in the gym. I nervously said, "Huh, oh B-Blue what's up?". Blue noticed me being nervous and said, "Hey I know that this motive is scary but I know that everything will be ok!". Only if he knew the other reason why I'm nervous right now. He said, "C'mon let's go have breakfast maybe it'll help us both.". I agreed and followed him to the dining room.
When we got to the dining room, Flame and Jolt were giving out plates of french toast. They already put my plate in my usual seat. I went to my seat but I don't feel comfortable sitting by myself right now. So I grabbed my plate and I sat next to Blue. I sat next to him because of all of the times he showed kindness to me. When I did that everyone including Blue was surprised. Zeke said, "I never thought I'd see the pup sit with us ever!". I said, "You know that I'm right here right?". Rainer asked, "So Rubble, what made you want to sit with us?". I said, "I have my reasons.". Sonic said, "C'mon Rubble, can't we just get an answer on why from you?". I didn't respond to Sonic.
Blue said, "If he doesn't want to share, he doesn't have to. So what does everyone think of the motive?". Zeke said, "It's stupid.". He really hates Monokuma more than I thought. To be fair Monokuma was really close to blowing him up on day one. Carrie said, "This is bad, it'll make us paranoid of each other and not trust each other too!". Rainer said, "This motive is going to drive us apart and I'm terrified on the torture we'll have to face when the third day comes!". Then Blue suggested, "How about we throw a party to calm us down?". Zeke aggressively asked, "WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD WE THROW A PARTY DURING A KILLING GAME?!". Blue said, "It would help us to calm down and bond with each other. Also don't we deserve to have some fun?".
Ender said, "I have to agree with Blue. We need a distraction from everything.". Flame said, "Yeah it sounds fun! I can make the food for the party!". Sonic said, "Yeah, we can make the decorations at the art room!". Rainer said, "We can also use the pool table in the rec room!". Jolt said, "That sounds cool! I can also work on getting us music for the party!". Red Yoshi said, "Sweet! But when will we have the party?". Blue said, "Maybe Tomorrow, Since we have to make everything for the party.". Jolt said, "Sounds good! Hey, I'm gonna check out the rec room.". Jolt got up from the table and exited the dining room. Rainer followed him after saying, "I should go with him, I need to make sure he doesn't hurt himself.". Flame said, "I'll be in the kitchen planning out the food I'm gonna make for the party!". Flame exited the dining room.
One by one everyone left the dining room. It was me, Blue, and Kamek left in the dining room. Kamek asked Blue, "Are you sure this is a good idea Blue?". Blue said, "Of course it is Kamek! It'll hopefully give people hope!". Kamek said, "I trust you then.". Then Kamek exited the dining room. I was about to leave but then Blue asked me, "Is everything ok? I wasn't expecting you to sit next to me.". I said, "I just wanted to sit with the group.". He then said, "I can tell there's more to that. After all, out of the available seats you chose the one next to me.". I said, "There's just a lot on my mind ok!". He said, "If you ever need to talk about it let me know ok.". He then exited the dining room.
I then exited the dining room and went to the library. I wanted to find more research in the archive section. There are anatomy books about all of us except for the pokemon and Rocky for some reason. I want to read some of those books so I'd know what to expect from everyone. Plus reading helps clear my mind temporality. I spent three hours at the library reading books. I learned more about the minecraft people and I am curious on how they're able to hold all of that weight. I'm also curious why Carrie likes to build instead of destroying like the rest of her kind. I couldn't find anything about Rocky and he's the one I was curious about the most.
I'm glad that there isn't anything about me in these books but that also makes me worried. What if someone already found the pokemon anatomy book and is keeping it in their dorm. If that's the case, they're possibly planning on killing me, Blue or the sibling trio. I also checked the other shelves and sections in case someone missed placed the anatomy books but no luck. There were some books based on 'cartoons'. I never watched any 'cartoon shows' so I didn't understand any of the books.
After I left the library, I wanted to check out what was going on on the third floor. When I got up to the third floor I went to the rec room first. I saw Jolt working on the machine and Rainer going through the pool table sticks and the pool balls. I walked up and asked, "How are things going in here?". They noticed me and Rainer said, "Not used to you asking that. Well I was checking the pool table equipment.". Jolt said, "I'm checking out this jukebox!". I asked, "A jukebox?". He said, "Yeah it's a machine that plays music!". I suddenly asked them, "Do you two think making friends is a good idea?".
They stopped and turned towards me. Rainer asked, "Why do you ask that?". Jolt added, "Yeah, Why?". I responded, "I don't know if making friends in this game is a good idea and I-". Jolt interrupted, "Sure this killing game makes it hard to make friends but making friends helps in so many ways. It's nice to have someone you can trust and talk to. Someone that'll be there for you and have your back.". I said, "But what happens if they betray like how Flappy betrayed Kenny.". Jolt said, "Then that person isn't a true friend. But that means you have to find more people that you know you can trust."
Rainer then asked, "Why are you asking us?". I said, "Because I'm having some thoughts ok. I don't know how to feel anymore and I don't know what to do!". They looked at each other and then back to me. Rainer said, "I think the best person to help you out might have to be Blue.". Sadly she's right, the person I don't know if I should be friends with is the best one to ask. He's the Ultimate Care-Taker after all. I don't know why I suddenly asked them but I felt like I could trust them. I don't know why. I said, "I'm gonna go for a walk, thank you for the advice.".
Rainer said, "See you later!". Jolt said, "Yeah later bud!". As I walked away I heard Jolt say, "Wasn't expecting him to ask us for advice.". Rainer said, "Yeah same.". I appreciate the advice they gave me. I wanted to check out the art room so I went there. When I got in, I saw Tails, Sonic, Carrie and Ender making decorations. Carrie said, "The streamers are coming along really well!". Tails said, "Sonic don't go too fast, we don't want to make any mistakes and have to restart again.". Sonic said, "Sorry about that again!". He said that while rubbing the back of his head. I had no idea what to say but then Ender noticed me.
Ender said, "Hey Rubble, wanna join us?". I had nothing better to do, so I said, "Uh sure?". I went over to Carrie and Ender and Carrie said, "We're making the steamers while Sonic and Tails are making stuff to decorate the tables, like a beautiful cloth!". Ender said, "Yeah I can show you how to make streamers if you don't know how.". Ender took around five to seven minutes teaching me how to make streamers. We spent around 20 to 30 minutes making streamers. Carrie said to me, "Hey you know I wasn't expecting you to join us Rubble.". I said, "Well I had nothing else to do.". Ender said, "Yeah but I thought you'd still be upset with me.". I said, "Well I am a little bit but I can understand how you were thinking and feeling. This game makes people distrust each other and do things they don't mean to.".
Carrie said, "You would understand it better than everyone else here huh.". I said, "Y-Yeah.". Carrie noticed the look on my face when I responded to her and said, "O-Oh I'm sorry for bringing it up!". Ender said, "Yeah, it must be really hard for you to have to deal with this again.". I nodded to his statement, I didn't want to say anything else about this stupid subject. Carrie said, "I can't believe they forced a kid to go through this twice!". I asked, "Can we drop the subject please?!". Carrie said, "OH I'm sorry! Of course we can!". We spent 30 more minutes making streamers. Ender then said, "This should be enough for now. Thanks for helping Rubble!". I said, "No problem. I'm gonna head out now.". They said bye and I left the art room. I spent the rest of the day by myself. At 9 pm I went to bed and ended the day.
I woke up by the wake up call and went to the dining room. I'm somehow one of the last people to show up. I guess everyone is excited for the party today. I sat next to Blue again and of course everyone was surprised that I did it again. We talked for a little and then Flame, Skylar, and Jolt came out with eggs and bacon for everyone. I guess Skylar had nothing better to do since he doesn't have to eat like the rest of us. We ate and we all went to set up the party. I figured I should help since I had nothing else to do. Red Yoshi didn't help because he said he wanted to get ready and he said that he takes a while to get ready for parties. Rocky wasn't much help because of his lack of arms and speed. We spent around five hours setting up the party. We spent two hours relaxing and getting ready before the party.
When the two hours were over, we all went to the third floor where the party was taking place. We're using the big open empty space in the hallway next to the art room. Zeke said to Red Yoshi, "It doesn't take you that long to get ready, you know.". Red Yoshi said, "Hey I like to make sure that everything is perfect!". Zeke said, "Whatever!", and walked to the punch bowl we had on a table that we found and brought up. There were also bowls of chips and a big plate of cupcakes baked by Flame. Jolt played music using the jukebox that he took from the rec room. Everyone was dancing and talking with each other. I was just sitting in the corner alone. I was alone because I just wanted to think to myself. Especially about one of the main questions I had in my head. Should I make friends? I'm still not sure about that especially since anyone here could have me as their target and possibly could kill me!
A few minutes had passed by and I still couldn't think of an answer. I then noticed Blue walking towards me. He said, "Hey bud, are you ok?". I said, "Not sure anymo- I mean yes!". He said, "I can tell that was a lie. When you're ready to talk to me please let-". I interrupted him by saying, "I can't figure out if making friends is a good idea! I asked your friends Rainer and Jolt about it and they made some good points. They also said that you could help me understand it more.". I couldn't hold it in anymore, I had to get the answers that I needed. He looked at me and gave a little smile. He said, "I'm glad you told me what was troubling you! And of course I'll help you!".
He sat next to me and he was telling basically the same thing Rainer and Jolt told me. I asked, "What if something goes wrong like we're forced to fight each other?!". He said, "If your friendship is strong nothing will ever break it apart. It'll survive any obstacle.". I asked, "What if I hurt them or they hurt me?". He then said, "Then try to patch things up. Apologize and show them that you care, just give them their space and don't go too far. Maybe it'll be easier for you to understand if you make a friend. They can show you how friendship works and help you as time goes by.". I asked him, "Maybe you're right. Can you be that friend?". He smiled and said, "Of course I'll be your friend! I'm so proud of how you're opening up right now!". That made me smile. That was probably one of the first times I've smiled in this school. I feel like I formed a bond with Blue. I just hope I'm not gonna get forced to do the motive.
Blue then said, "Hey let's go enjoy the party!". I said, "Yeah! Let's do it!". We got up and went back to the party. We talked with everyone for at least 2 hours and some people went to bed early. Those people were Rocky, Tails, Sonic, Red Yoshi, and Kamek. Skylar and Zeke said that they got bored and left as well. Me, the sibling trio, Carrie, Ender, and Blue stayed. Actually we headed to the rec room to play pool. Rainer and Blue told me how to play and Jolt challenged me to a game. He said he'll go easy on me and I beat him really easily. He challenged me to a rematch and he said he'll make it harder. I beat him again. Then he challenged Ender and it was almost a tie but he lost again. He said that he's better at sports like soccer. We played pool until 9:50 pm. At 9:50 pm we decided to clean up the party before bed. After we cleaned up I went to my dorm and went to bed ending the day.
I woke up without a wake up call for once. I was in a happy mood that morning. That party really did bring joy. I walked out and I found Zeke and Kamek talking. Kamek was holding a laundry basket. I figured I'd try to be friends with them so I walked up to them. I said, "Hey guys, what's up?". Kamek said, "Oh hi kid. We're just gonna go to the laundry room.". I asked, "Can I join?". Zeke said, "You want to join? Why?". I said, "Just trying to be more social.". Kamek said, "Ok come along then.". We headed off to the laundry room.
Zeke said, "Hey I gotta use the bathroom first, be right back.". He went to the bathroom and me and Kamek waited outside the laundry room for him. I asked, "So what do you think the torture for us is gonna be?". Kamek said, "Oh I forgot, today is the third day. I don't know, it's gonna be bad though.". I agreed with him and then we heard slow running. It was Zeke slowly running towards us. He said, "You guys need to see this!". He sounded uneasy and out of breath. Kamek said, "Zeke what did you find?". Zeke said, "Someone is dead in the bathroom!". Kamek yelled, "WHAT?!". I just gave a terrified face. Kamek dropped the laundry basket and we followed him to the bathrooms and he wasn't lying. There was a dead body in the boy's bathroom.