Malefio's Thread (NPC)

Oh, I probably messed up a bit. The dining hall is an indoor courtyard with glass walls and the kitchen has a window that goes out to it. You know how like...sections of wall will be missing in a house to make a window from one room to the other? It's kind of like that. I can find an image to show you what I mean if you need me to.

Apparently it's called a serving hatch. Huh.

You grab ten cans of food, stuffing them in your prop bag. You then take the racks of knives and pour them into your bag. Hmm. Yeah, this should work fine.

As you leave the kitchen, you pass by Tucker. He's on his way inside the kitchen.

You head over to James and Sato and ask them if they know what to do with your excessive amount of knives.

Sato seems surprised. "Y-You have that many knives...!? Nom..."

James scolds him. "You shouldn't eat when you're surprised! You might choke!" He then turns back to you. "A place to dispose of the knives...? There must be somewhere they keep trash, right?"

Sato speaks while still eating. "Maybe...Nom Nom...You can throw outside...Nom...?"

James shakes his head. "It would be too easy to find them."

"Nom...Then bury it, Nom!"

James sighs. "Isn't that a bit much? Besides, the mound of dirt would be obvious." He turns to you. "We must have rooms somewhere if we're meant to stay here, right? Maybe you could simply store them there?" He smiles. "I trust you to watch over them. You seem honest enough."

"Ah, well in that case-"

BING BONG DING DONG

James is interrupted by an obnoxious sound.

Nekoshi's voice then begins to sound throughout the area. "Ahem...Attention, please! This is Headmaster Nekoshi! I have an important announcement to make! Everyone should head to the dining hall immediately! I've got a very special surprise for you all! And don't even think about skipping out..."

Great...That can't be good. But...you don't want to see what happens when you defy Nekoshi.

As the others start to filter in, Nekoshi jumps up from seemingly nowhere and stands on top of one of the picnic tables nearby.



"Hello everyone~! I'm sure you're all very excited to see what I have for y-"

"Just tell us what you want, you stupid furball." Ashley glares at Nekoshi.

Nekoshi appears to be angry. Can he even feel feelings? "HEY! That's no way to treat your wonderful headmaster! Especially not when I'm about to give you such a wonderful gift!"

"I don't want anything that comes from your grungy paws. I think it would be far better if we just beat the shit out of you here." She takes out a folding fan and opens it in front of her face, looking to the side. Huh. Is she nervous? "...I just was waiting to let the others start first."

"HA! Yeah, right! You're probably just too scared to fight me!"

"...No..." Her face certainly betrays her lies.

"Hmm...You know, since I'm such a merciful and wonderful headmaster, I think I'll give you my gift anyway. You can all bow down and thank me now!"

"Oh. Thanks!"

Amelia sighs. "Do not actually zank 'im, Axel..."

"Now then...without further ado...!" Nekoshi pulls out a small remote with a button on it. He smacks the button with his other paw and you feel the school rumble a bit.

And then...the unthinkable happened.

The doors outside just opened right up. The courtyard's glass doors outside are just...open. Not even locked anymore. Does this mean...?

"Yep! You're all free to go now! You can thank me later! Anyway, have fun explorinnnnggggg!" With that, Nekoshi disappeared again.

Does this mean...is it really safe to go outside now? You can just leave? Even after a display like that?

"...Something doesn't add up." Claus crosses his arms and looks at the exit. "..." He stares at it with intensity.

...It seems you're free to go wherever you like now. The others all start to make their way toward the exit.

More or less. Some are taking their time, but most are headed that way. After all, why pass up a chance to leave like this? What if the doors shut and lock you back in here?

You decide to stand back and watch before moving.

Sam appears to be frustrated. And by that, I mean he's yelling at Nekoshi. "Wait just one damn second! Get back here, you mechafurball! Was there an official change to the rules, or is this some kind of trick? How stupid do you think we are?" He reaches over to a nearby table, grabbing an apple that had been left there from someone's feast, and chucks it at the doorway.

You notice...nothing happens to the apple. It's completely fine.

"I see." Claus says this as if he's figured something out.

Everyone is silent for a moment before Dennis speaks up. "So it was just orientation after all. I'm almost disappointed." He hefts up a shovel he got from...somewhere over his shoulder and heads out the door without pause or hesitation.

Everyone waits and watches for a moment, but nothing seems to happen to him.

"Okay then...it must be safe, right? Let's go!" Axel charges out the door.

"..." Claus is silent, closing his eyes to think a moment before walking out.

One by one, everyone begins to follow, seeing as nothing seems to happen to the others.

Outside...You see something you never expected.

Clear, blue skies. Clean air. Growing plants. Running water.

...And a cage.

Everyone stares in shock as they take in their surroundings. This entire school is built...on top of a floating island. And that floating island...is inside of a massive cage.

"...What?" Ashley looks surprised. "...That cat lied to us. We aren't free at all!" She crushes her hand around her folding fan so much it snaps in half.

"Of course not!" Popping up nearby, Nekoshi seems far too entertained by your reactions. "What kind of killing game ends that easily? A booooooring oneeeeeee!"

"You said you would let us go!"

"Ah, no. I said I would let you outside the school. I never said anything about leaving the giant cage outside the school. Or the floating island the school is on! Nyahahaha!"

Ashley looks like she's about to punt Nekoshi. Vivian heads over to her and places her hands on Ashley's shoulders. "Hey. Calm down. We don't know what might happen if you attack Nekoshi. I promise we'll make it out together if you can calm down and think this through, okay?" She gives her a bright smile.

Ashley's rage subsides a bit as Nekoshi continues. "As long as you're trapped inside this cage, you'll never be able to leave! Even if you did miraculously survive the dive off the floating island into the water below, you'd have to climb all the way up that wall over there. So you might as well give up now!"

"Give up?" Vivian turns to face Nekoshi. "We'll never give up! We're gonna get out of here together! After all, we've got Ultimates here! What can't we do?"

Nekoshi laughs at her. "Oh, I see, I see! So by using this as your cover, you plan on escaping after you kill one of your friends and pin the blame on someone else!"

"That's not true!"

"Or isssss iiiiiiittt? Oooooooo~?"

"Gr...There's no point in talking to you." Vivian glares at Nekoshi.

"How cruel! Glaring at me for providing you all with such a wonderful warning? You must all remember...You can't trust anyone! You're all your worst enemy! Nyahahaha!" With that, Nekoshi makes his exit.

There's a short moment of silence as all your hope of escape is shattered.

"...So that's how it is, is it?" Claus stands there, looking toward where Nekoshi disappeared. "He seems intent on having us all participate in this killing game of his."

"...Well we won't." Vivian looks at Claus with determination in her eyes. "I say for now, we should search every inch of this new area for clues or a way out. Then we can all meet back up at the Dining Hall and share what we found! We'll find a way out of here if we work together!"

Amelia nods. "It is far too early to give up now, is it not? Zen I shall give zis search my all!"

Claus still seems to be looking where Nekoshi was. "Hm...I'll help, if that is the command you give me. But this does not mean I trust any of you."

Feeling somewhat renewed with a united sense of hope, the group starts to split up and search around. You notice that Dennis immediately starts to dig for some...unknown reason.

You take a look around outside. The path from the dining hall seems to be a side path that leads back over toward the front of the school. In front of the school, the path heads down a bit more and splits off to the left at what appears to be a dormitory. You can tell because of the giant sign on the front of the round building that says "DORMITORY". Splitting off to the left of the same path appears to be a large garden of some kind. Finally, at the end of the path, leading right to the edge of the island, is some kind of dock. There's a severe lack of water and boats. Well...it seems exploration is in your hands.