Descend - An Escape Adventure

Triplemathics wrote:
"Whoa! That's a fancy thing you've got. Is it some kind of night vision function?"

Spider-man carried on searching for the light switch as he spoke. "Well, actually I tend to use it to spook goons and announce my arrival. Obviously only when it's the sort I can take down easily, like a mugger or a group trying to break in somewhere. Still, it makes a handy light too as you've seen. No night vision though, I'm not exactly rich like Iron Man or the Avengers..."

Peachy wrote:

Triplemathics wrote:> A faint red aura is emitting from Adachi...
> It doesn't seem he's aware of it.

What the hell? Am I seeing things or is there some kind of red glow coming from Adachi? Glowing auras aren't usually a good sign. Hitsugi is half tempted to ask Spider-Man if he saw the same thing. She ended up conveying that message in a way through a raised brow at Spidey.

Spidey realised his spider-sense was going off. The source of it seemed to be Adachi who... had a red aura? Hitsugi's eyebrow seemed to confirm he wasn't seeing things, but he knew in these sorts of situations jumping straight into direct questions tended to lead to supervillain rampages. Probably best not to let one of those start up today. "Hey, you ok Detective Adachi?"

Monika leans forward, also letting the red light fall across her expression. She folds her hands under her chin and smiles back at Junko, lowering her voice to match the volume of the other girl.



"If you think I'm the most suspicious one here, you really haven't been paying attention. There's a strange person in a mask, a man with an unopenable briefcase, and even a girl who claims to not know what stairs are. I'm just a high school girl, like you. Now, when you want to stop lying to me, I'll share something I found with you. Either way, I think you're right about my secret... And I think we'll be walking out of this hotel together."

She leans back and stretches.



"Unless I'm totally off base, of course! Hey, I just realized, you remind me of my friend Yuri. It's your eyes, I think. They totally look like hers in this light!"



"Why did the light come on, anyway? Did the switch start working?"

"Oh, I see. Yes, this is Detective Goro Akechi speaking. It makes sense that there would be an internal line for communication, but putting a phone in the storage closet?"



"That seems like a bit much, wouldn't you agree," remarked Akechi, doubt causing him to cast his gaze aside. "Perhaps this is all part of the game."

The prosecutor in red made his request and Goro's head wobbled up and down, as if to make his acquiescence known visually.



"Not a problem, Mr Edgeworth. I'll also pass on this information to the other members of my group, thank you. By the way, I think we're more or less finished with this place. Should we join you in sweeping the hotel rooms?"

Akechi wrote:" It makes sense that there would be an internal line for communication, but putting a phone in the storage closet? That seems like a bit much, wouldn't you agree, perhaps this is all part of the game."

"The fact that the phone was inactive and could be activated via a mere phone call seems odd," Edgeworth noted. "...It is clear that we are in a game beyond our normal means. It is clear that someone intends to toy with us. Proceed with the utmost caution."

Akechi wrote:"Not a problem, Mr Edgeworth. I'll also pass on this information to the other members of my group, thank you. By the way, I think we're more or less finished with this place. Should we join you in sweeping the hotel rooms?"

"Yes, please do. My team and I are examining the corridor on the right side of the map, starting with room number 509 and moving clockwise. You may want to take a different part of the hotel, so we can collectively cover more ground in less time. One more thing, Detective Goro," Edgeworth continued, "If you should happen across a brass key on your search, about an inch and a half long, please do let me know. I believe our captor has taken it and put it somewhere."

While Edgeworth was talking to Goro on the phone, Aqua took the chance to think and go over what she'd learned so far...

She paced around the room.



(Alright, let's see... I was in the realm of Darkness. I don't know how much time passed since I ran into Mickey, of course, but it's been quite a bit. And I'm sure I didn't meet anyone else in-between. So, how did I end up here...?)

She looked around.

(This place is in the Realm of Light... right? I mean, there's people here, so it would have to be. But it's strange. Something feels... off. Mostly about the people here, though. Junko, Adachi, Akechi, Monika... It might just be because I've come so used to sensing it all around me, but they all seem to have a tint of Darkness to them. It  makes me shiver. And then there's that man in the mask. Something isn't quite right with Aleka either. )

With a sigh, Aqua turned her head to look at Aleka, who's eyes were glued to the TV.

(What is this world? If someone from a world I've actually visited is considered a character in a story here... How far away from home am I? How far away am I... from Ven?)

Aqua shakes her head.

(I can't focus on that now. This place... It might be a path back to the realm of light! I have to keep my thoughts straight...)

"Hey? Aqua?" 

The sound of a young person's voice snapped Aqua out of her trance. The tone of it at first made her think of Ventus, so her attention was hightened- But, of course, it wasn't him who was speaking. Aleka's eyes were gleaming up at the woman.



"Who's your favorite hero?"



"Huh?"

Hero... Oh, she was talking about that story on the screen. Of course.

"Um, well... I don't really know any of these people on there..."



"That's okay! I just wanna know who you think is the coolest defender of good!"



'Defender of good'... Somehow, that resonated with her. Memories of the days she spent training with her friends came back to her. Values she was taught. Dreams they shared. A small smile appeared on Aqua's lips. she whispered, more to myself.

"Master... Terra..."



"Terra? That's a cool name!" Aleka grinned. "I bet he's a great hero!"



"...!"

Aqua looked away.

Yes, he'd been supposed to be... They were all supposed to be...

...Her mind was more than made up. She had to get out of here and find them. As soon as possible.

"An inch and a half," parroted Akechi, just to confirm that he had heard the receiving end clearly. "Alright, we'll head down to the other end of the floor and hopefully meet you in the middle. Goodbye now, Mr Edgeworth."

Hanging up, Goro turned to face Junko and Monika with an objective in mind.



"What are you two gossiping about? Oh well, never mind. I'm glad to see you're both getting on."



"I've told our friend with the cravat that we'll help with searching the guests' rooms," he relayed.



"Come to think of it, where are the guests in the first place? I don't suppose we'll get many answers if we keep asking questions like those."

Monika turns to Goro and nods.



"Sounds like a plan. Oh, and have you considered that we are the guests? Maybe this place was built for us and us alone. To house... whatever is going on here."



"What rooms do you wanna search first? I'm just along for the ride, since I don't think writing skills are going to be helpful for solving any puzzles..."

Unfazed by Monika's thousand yard's stare, Junko looked away, not to back down from a challenge, but as an act of showing her boredom. The conversation had gone on for too long, and there was no longer anything to be gained from it. Not when Akechi was about to hang up and might've started asking questions, anyway. 



"We're literally ALL suspicious here. I wasn't trying to single you out, y'know? That kind of super-duper self absorption is why you keep weirding me out so much. And about my eyes... heh." 



"You should probably be taking better care of your friends, in that case~"

When she saw that Akechi was done with the phone, she crossed the room to meet him, surprisingly not invading his personal space this time. She tilted her head in an inquisitive manner, adding a little "So..." to it.



"Um, I don't want to intrude, since I'm not the detective here, but... Aren't we supposed to be the guests here? We woke up in our respective rooms, and there's no one else here aside from the elevator lady. Maybe you should be looking for the reason we're guests here in the first place."

To anyone who would even try to guess what Junko was thinking, her words would seem to mock the detective's approach. However, the look she gave a certain group of boxes in the floor, which only Akechi could notice, seemed to mean an entirely different thing. 

Junko finally tired of respecting Akechi's boundaries, and stepped closer to grab his arm in hers. She gave him her usual mischievous smile, and pointed towards the door.



"Let us go, then! Our talents are needed somewhere else~! Monika, will you dare come with us, you commoner?"

Monika smirks at Junko's comment.


"Oh, don't worry! My friends are totally taken care of. I don't think I'm ever going to have to worry about them again, you know?"

She simply nods along with Junko's talk to Akechi, and at the end of it all, she walks over to follow the pair. 



"Of course! I can't let you guys discover anything without me~!"

As Detective Goro hung the phone, Edgeworth did the same. He looked around to see  how Aleka and Aqua were doing while he was having the phone call. They seemed to be having a conversation of their own.

He didn't want to interrupt them. Besides, there was something else he wanted to try with the phone.

Picking the phone up once more, Edgeworth took a deep breath before testing his theory. He didn't know what could come out of it.


(506 is the Storage Room's number. Judging by the map, the Utility's number should be 512. In that case...)

Edgeworth dialed 513 and waited to see what'd happen.

telephone wrote:"The number you have called is not valid. Please try again."

Edgeworth hung up the phone with a click.
(Well, that was anticlimactic.)


"I think we're done with this room. Let's move on to the next, shall we?"


Edgeworth, Aqua and Aleka examine room #507, and after finding nothing of note, move on to room #505.

Edgeworth wrinkles his nose as he enters. "Do you smell that?" After scanning the room for the most likely cuplrit, he walks over to the mini bar and opens the door. The light inside remains off.

"It's definitely coming from the mini-bar," he says, touching the side of the machine and leaning in to listen for a hum. Nothing. "It isn't on, from the looks of it." Edgeworth takes a look behind the machine.

"That would explain it. It isn't plugged in."

Aqua paced behind Edgeworth, lost in thought. It was only when they got to the next room of interest that she snapped back to the present.

"Yeah, it's hard not to smell it."

Stepping in, Edgeworth had taken the initiative to examine the mini-bar. While he did so, Aqua opened the door of the bathroom and gave it and the room a sweeping glance, finding nothing worthy of note.



"Not turned on? Well, at any rate, this is definitely spoiled. That's really weird."



"We all woke at the same time. If that was somehow premeditated, it must have been meticulous work. I... can't imagine something or someone being able to do that and then leave plain food to spoil so carelessly."

She stepped forward, and as Edgeworth looks behind the machine, she does too. And then she squints.



"It's not plugged in? But there's something stuck there..."

"It... Appears to be the head of a screwdriver," Edgeworth notes, leaning in to look, "careful not to touch it, it'll give a nasty shock."


"I believe the reason the food got spoiled was simply because it was needed to take the plug out the outlet in order to stick the screwdriver into it. Which means that whoever did so either did not care about the food inside the mini bar, or somehow wanted it to spoil. Either way, it was premeditated, no doubt about it.

In any case, the mini bar has been disconnected for more than a couple of hours, or the food wouldn't be this bad. This begs the question... How long were we unconscious?"

Edgeworth stood up.



"I think we may learn something if we remove the screwdriver from the outlet. We just need to make sure the electricity doesn't pass through the person removing it to the floor. We can do this by either cutting off the power to this outlet, or by putting some rubber between us and the metal, or us and the floor." Edgeworth glances around the room, looking for an electrical panel. "Aqua, did you see a rubber mat in the bathtub?"

Aqua takes another look inside the bathroom.



"No, there's nothing like that in here. Just a damp towel. That's the opposite of helpful, really."

She sighs.



"But if I remember right, with electrical systems like this, there's usually some kind of hub that controls the flow of energy, correct? So maybe, if we turned that one off..."




"...?"

"Just a damp towel, you say? Well, things aren't any better for me. I can't seem to find anything helpful around here either."


"Yes, we should be able to find a power box somewhere in this hotel. However, searching for it might take us too much time. For the time being, let's add this to our list of things we should-"

Cue Aleka moving towards the screwdriver.


"Aleka, wait, don't...!" he shouted, hoping she'd stop her move. "That's dangerous!"

Aqua was thinking on what Edgeworth put forth when she heard his louder call to Aleka. Aqua then turned and saw her fast approaching a hand to the metal bar.

In fact, seemed like she just touched it-



"Aleka!"

Rather than just speak, her body moved, almost on its own. The last thing she wanted was someone so clueless taking what might be equivalent to a Thunder spell.

She slid close, sweeping her arm around her torso, and pulled back with force. Only, she did it with too much force. Maybe Aleka was too thin, or perhaps Aqua's years of fighting honed her strength to inhuman levels, but the fact was that, before Aqua realized, she was lifting Aleka well into the air and back, threatening to make her crash her head on the ground.



(I messed up!)

Thankfully, her feat of strength was not over. She had enough power to shift her grapple into a throw: and that she did, towards the bed in the room.

"There!"

Aleka may crash with a loud noise, but she was at least landing on something fluffy.

"Ugh, ghhhh......"

> The red aura is intensifying..."


"Son of a BITCH! I'm SICK of this bullshit always happening to me!"

Adachi stands up and slams his fist into a wall. He's still not aware of the aura enveloping him even as it grows in strength.


"Of all the goddamn things to happen to me... I can't just have a peaceful life locked up where I belong. Oh no, I have to be pushed around running errands every freaking time someone pulling the strings in the afterlife has to take a piss! And now some kid thinks playing detective makes him special while I'm skulking around in the darkness like a pathetic moron! Saving cats? He knows nothing, that piece of shit..."

He slams the wall again.


"DAMMIT!!!"

At that moment, a creature born from the aura takes shape.


"......."

The creature seems hostile, but doesn't attack yet. There's no telling what might happen if Adachi continues his tantrum, though. Some crackles of red lightning are showing as Adachi clasps his head in rage and frustration.

Oh, crap!



Hitsugi, by instinct, positioned herself in a defensive stance upon seeing the strange entity emerge. It definitely doesn't have that blue glow that Phantoms are associated with, though it definitely looks like it could be one. The red and black color scheme- is it a Darker? Then it could have infected Adachi. It looks way more humanoid than most Darkers, though, and besides, they're driven to destruction by natural instinct. The fact it's not attacking immediately is worrying. Is it perhaps a Dark Falz? Dark Falz tend to seek hosts, but it already has a solid form. What the hell is it? She could attack it, or wait and see what it does. But waiting would mean danger. Adachi, on the other hand, currently laid as a hot mess. Maybe it best to prioritize his safety first?



"Hey... are you okay?" With that thing looming overhead, it's kind of difficult to judge where this could end.

Triplemathics wrote:

"......."

The creature seems hostile, but doesn't attack yet. There's no telling what might happen if Adachi continues his tantrum, though. Some crackles of red lightning are showing as Adachi clasps his head in rage and frustration.

Yeah... there's definitely something wrong here Spidey thought to himself. The creature wasn't moving, and is clearly connected to Adachi, who seems to not be doing too great. His spider-sense was giving him a steady feeling that they aren't about to be attacked, but it might attack at any moment. He considered his situation, shelving the idea of telling Adachi that his Monster's currently showing.

Peachy wrote:


"Hey... are you okay?" With that thing looming overhead, it's kind of difficult to judge where this could end.

Spidey realised that Hitsugi also noticed he wasn't attacking yet. He had no idea of what Hitsugi can do, she seemed to know a defensive stance, but as to how strong she was he had no clue. He therefore put himself in a position where he could pull her out the way if there was a sudden attack. "Hey er, Detective Adachi, you hearing us?"

"Aleka!"
Edgeworth would move to try to help Aqua, but the sight of Aleka being so unharmed left Edgeworth in a state of shock. His eyes drifted to look down at the burnt spot on the carpet, his expression unchanging.

"How...did she...?"

Could it be...? That...that was possible... He calms down, just looking at Aleka.


"Miss Aleka...are you alright...? Don't do something like that again. We wouldn't want you to get hurt."
He keeps his voice low for now, just trying not to freak the girl out. To escape that unharmed...well, best to see how she reacts for now. He'll make a mental note that he needs to keep on Aqua's good side. That throw...

"... Miss Aqua, I'm concerned for you as well. If you touched Miss Aleka while the electricity was flowing through her, the shock should have reached you as well. How are you feeling?"

He'll wait for a second to ensure his companions were alright before speaking up again.


"We need to turn off the electricity if we're to get that out of the socket. There should be a breaker box..."

LOGIC: "Map of the Hotel" + "Where's the Breakers?" = ...

"...In most places, you would expect a central location to have your breakers. Out of every location on this floor...the most likely is the Utility room. We should give that team a call."

"The utility room... right."

Despite Edgeworth's initial reaction, he sure was a cool hand to get composed this quickly. Aqua was still getting over the fact that Aleka was seemingly unharmed.

But what Edgeworth said about her, too, made Aqua open her palms and look over them, as if checking anything wrong with herself.



"As for me, I'm fine. I... don't think I was affected at all."

Whether that was due to her training bringing her a lot of resistance for this kind of thing, or for another reason entirely, she couldn't say.

At any rate, Aqua nodded reassuringly.



"But you're right. Let's try calling there. Actually- let me try."

Leaving Aleka to rest, Aqua approached the communication device that they had been working with. She then took a glance at the map.

She might not have been able to see exactly how Edgeworth did it, but she extrapolated enough to determine he had pressed three buttons, and that he called the storage room. That meant that they had to use three-button presses to call specific places, if it was an internal line: which meant the number of the room made sense to use.

Since the Storage room didn't have a number, it had to be the one that was missing in the order. It was easy to perceive.

But she got stumped when looking at the other side.

"... Sir Edgeworth?"



"What number should I call? It almost seems like... two different ones would fit the spot."

Junko wrote:"Um, I don't want to intrude, since I'm not the detective here, but... Aren't we supposed to be the guests here? We woke up in our respective rooms, and there's no one else here aside from the elevator lady. Maybe you should be looking for the reason we're guests here in the first place."

His hands stuffed in his pockets, Goro stared at the floor vacantly and gave a response that was somewhere between nodding and shaking. It was undeniable that Junko's hypothesis made sense - and this idea had occurred to Akechi too - but this hypothetical would raise even more questions.



"I don't think you're wrong, but there's a problem," explained Akechi needlessly, as if simply airing his inner voice. "Why would our host test us with puzzles while simultaneously going to the effort of pairing us up and sorting us into rooms like real guests? Beyond just amusement, what could their goal be?"

Akechi breathed a deep sigh, then looked ahead at another thing that did not exist, his head craning at a slight angle. The hairs on the back of his neck stood upright and he cleared his throat loudly.



"At any rate, we're not going to make any progress if we postulate without evidence. Mr Edgeworth has started with Room #509 and his team will be working clockwise, so it would make sense for us to make our way to the room immediately counter-clockwise of 509."

With a sudden spring in his step, Akechi moved towards the door and checked the state of the hallway. Not much was different but there was a racket coming from somewhere close by. The teen detective looked concerned, shooting Junko a look as he began to walk in the general direction of the cacophony, in addition to their original destination.