Descend - An Escape Adventure

Yanked across the room, Akechi found himself tending to the sore part of his wrist as he and his new companion stood outside their room. She might well have been irritated, but Goro did not seem to have picked up on such a detail. Before examining the corridor in detail, he turned around to her one last time.



"Sure. Sorry, I don't think I caught your name," the boy exclaimed, offering his good hand to the other youth. "I'm Goro Akechi, a student and amateur detective."



"More or less."

DimitriBarronmore wrote:(Alright, let's have a go at it.)

---

Parker awoke with a quiet groan, attempting to rub his eyes before realizing that he was touching the lenses of his Spiderman mask. That alone caused a moment of pause; something must have hit him hard while he was on the job. At least the mask was still with him rather than having been stolen, and he wasn't tied up or otherwise tethered down, so chances were good that this wasn't some villainous death trap. Right?

(Ugh, anyone catch the plate on the bus that hit me...?)

... Hold on a minute, the room was dark.

Pulling himself back into lucidity, Spidey attempted to look around but wasn't able to make much out in the rather dim light. A doorframe, maybe, some vaguely glossy surfaces. He could feel around himself for a few seconds, tell that there seemed to be a metal box near him, along with a padded bag of some sort which he wouldn't be able to open very easily in the dark, but for the most part he seemed to be stuck with just his instincts.

(Alright, keep calm Peter. You've been in the dark plenty of times before.)
But wait, was he alone? Now that it came down to it, it felt like there was someone else there. It was just a hunch, but...

"Hey, is there anyone else in here? Hello?"

Well, this was certainly new for Adachi. It wasn't the first time that someone had kidnapped him from the confines of his cell, but the brat responsible for that at least had the decency to not lock him up in the dark. From the sounds of it, it seemed as though he wasn't alone either. Part of him just wanted to go back to sleep and ignore what was happening, but eventually decided against it. Gotta play nice and abide by the rules, after all.

What a pain...



"Yeah yeah, I hear you loud and clear. Sheesh... no need to yell."

Having exited the room, Junko finally let his hand go. She extended her hand as well, and accepted his with less of a harsh grasp this time. She appeared slightly surprised at the detective not recognizing her at all.



"Manm shut-ins really are something... To be unrecognized by any high school boy, no matter how much society has collapsed is..."

Junko used her spare hand to give him a V sign, and she slightly stuck out her tongue, as if attempting to do a cute pose you see in magazines.



"Yahoo~ I'm Junko Enoshima! Super High School Level Gyaru! The Ultimate Fashionista!"



"It's been great to meet you, but we gotta go! There are friends waiting for us!"

And so, the eccentric teen skipped away, heading towards the people in the hallway.

Relieved to have both hands free again, Akechi flashed a smile at Junko and joined her on the short jaunt down the hall. There was nothing in particular about the corridor that stood out to him, excepting the individuals that had gathered at the other end. Roughly speaking, the environment itself was obviously a hotel and a perfectly ordinary one at that. But the people here were likely to be in the same situation as Goro and Junko, so it seemed like a good idea to question them on what they could remember.

Gradually, Akechi became rather puzzled. He fired another query Junko's way.



"Hold on. You seem surprised that I don't recognise you. Not to be impetuous, but I feel the same way."



"You don't recognise my name or my face and I can't seem to remember you either. Could that be a coincidence?"

Edgeworth wrote:
For a moment, Edgeworth eyed the tea tray on the counter.

"Ah, yes, let us continue outside."
A prosecutor had to have his priorities in order.

As Edgeworth held open the door, he asked, "Miss Aqua, are you normally a difficult person to catch off guard? Or is there something about where you were that made sneaking up on a person unusually difficult?"

"Oh! Thanks!"

Aqua wasn't used to people holding doors open for her. Even back at the castle, it wasn't really common for them to do that...

She then listened to Edgeworth's question.



"Catching me off-guard...?" she laughed a little "Well, one could try. But it probably wouldn't end well for them. I don't mean to brag, but my senses are pretty sharp. It's... an occupational thing, I'd say. Anyway, I was in a pretty 'dark' place when it happened, in more than one way. But I can promise you, that wouldn't have made it any easier for anyone to get in an initiative strike on me. I've got, well, more practice than I ever meant to get by now... So yeah, whoever did that must have used special means." She lowered her head and mumbled a bit. "Maybe it was a spell? ...But I should have been able to see that coming as well, shouldn't I...?"

The two of them left the room... running right into the scene with the girl with the apple, Hitsugi and Monika.



"...So it really isn't just us...!"

---

Hitsugi & Monika wrote:Hitsugi rubbed the back of her neck. She has been doing that earlier.


"Guilty as charged."

"Heh heh...!



"So, that's what another person is like...? I like it! And... oh!"

Monika:
"Hello! Are you guys also trapped here?"

She then realizes she's probably interrupting a very important conversation about... Well, what people talk about during these sorts of scenarios. Either way, she goes quiet again.

Hitsugi:

She turned to face Monika. "Another person? Hey, over here!" She waved.

"Oh...! There are so many people...?" She seemed surprised and fascinated. "I did not know that! Umm... Let's see... So we can all speak to each other easily... I know! I'll tell you all my name, and you'll tell me yours! Is that okay?"



"I am Aleka! It's nice to meet you! When did you start existing?"

"Aleka? That's a nice name! I'm Monika. Uh, just Monika will be fine. We don't need to use last names or be super formal or anything like that. Uh, what do you mean by exist? Because I'm 18, if you're asking how old I am."

She takes a moment to look at all of the people in the room- er, hallway, then looks back at the elevator. As the metaphorical lightbulb goes on, she turns back to Aleka.



"Do you mind if I borrow that apple after everyone's done introducing themselves? I think I need it to use an elevator. Oh, yeah, just so everyone here knows: The woman by the elevator won't let us use it without a golden key, and that apple is the only thing I've seen that's golden..."



"Plus the lights in the storage room are out. If anyone has a flashlight, that would be super. Sorry if I'm rambling, I just think it's important that everyone is informed, haha!"

"Wait, what was that about an elevator?" Duh. Hotels have elevators, that's obvious. What was that about needing something golden? Hitsugi glanced at the apple in question. Two and two were added together.



"How the hell does that make an elevator work? What kind of elevator runs on apples?"

Edgeworth listened to Aqua intently, following her rather carefully for the moment.



He looked about the hallway, eyes scanning for anything that might be out of the ordinary. So far, the only thing that seemed to be was the group before him. He certainly appeared to be the outcast in this group. The only person in the group who seemed to be both male and out of high school.

Of course, before he could say anything, the girl with the apple began to talk. It was a pleasant enough introduction, save of course for the last little question that he was now getting hung up on.



"...when did we start existing...?"

That question nags at him for a little bit before priorities kick back in. Introductions. He listens to Monika's rambling for a moment, going after her and following her lead on the 'existing' question.



"My name is Miles Edgeworth, though just Edgeworth would be fine. I am 27...By chance are there any stairs? I would prefer not to take the elevator."

Junko stopped in her tracks and turned around to look at Goro right in the eye. The cacophony of voices not too far off from their position seemed to slightly tune out around them, minds too focused on what the truth could offer. The girl had changed to a completely different personality in the span of a second again.



"It's no coincidence the two of us are both here. It's no coincidence we both have no knowledge of each other, despite our achievements,"




"And it's definitely not coincidence that I'm having the time of my life right now!" Junko exclaimed. Her excited smile showed that she knew more than she let on that she wasn't willing to reveal to the detective just yet. Extending her arm towards him again, she bows slightly, in a goofy gesture. "Now hurry, Sherlock! We're missing out on the cast introduction thanks to your pointless questions!"

Resigned to play along with Junko's whims if it would please her for the moment, Goro let out a long sigh and began to walk again. It was clear that something here was amiss and the girl had likely been awake for some time before Akechi had become conscious. This thought alone was disturbing, but there was little point in making accusations at this early stage of the game.

And no matter who was responsible for this event, it was surely a game.



"Very well. I'll let you do the talking, if it's quite alright with you."

Monika: "Aleka? That's a nice name! I'm Monika. Uh, just Monika will be fine. We don't need to use last names or be super formal or anything like that. Uh, what do you mean by exist? Because I'm 18, if you're asking how old I am."

Monika: "Do you mind if I borrow that apple after everyone's done introducing themselves? I think I need it to use an elevator. Oh, yeah, just so everyone here knows: The woman by the elevator won't let us use it without a golden key, and that apple is the only thing I've seen that's golden..."

Monika: "Plus the lights in the storage room are out. If anyone has a flashlight, that would be super. Sorry if I'm rambling, I just think it's important that everyone is informed, haha!"

Hitsugi: "Wait, what was that about an elevator?"

Hitsugi: "How the hell does that make an elevator work? What kind of elevator runs on apples?"

Edgeworth: "My name is Miles Edgeworth, though just Edgeworth would be fine. I am 27...By chance are there any stairs? I would prefer not to take the elevator."

"What are stairs?"

"Oh, and as for that apple... I don't know if I can give it to you. I've had it always. All the whole time I've existed. I've never tried putting it away."



"Existed...?"

What an odd way to word that. Aqua had not expected anyone to ever word that question that way, and taking a look at the faces of the people around her, she could tell that wasn't just a cultural barrier between worlds that she was running into here. They were all thinking the same thing as her. Even the girl named "Monika", who saved the conversation topic so elegantly.



"Well, my name is Aqua. And I---" she paused. "...I am about 30 years old... I think..." she added that last part very quietly. Clearly it was awkward for her to talk about this. But she couldn't just have not answered, right? That would have stood out even more...

In any case, Monika's words took her interest.

(A golden 'key'...? Could it be... No, I don't have any keychains that would do that to my Keyblade. Maybe it really is that apple? But how can an apple be a key?)

"I agree, an apple as a key sounds pretty strange... But where I come from, we have a saying. 'Let your heart be the Guiding Key'. I think we should trust Monika's intuition for now. She seems to be pretty sure of what she's saying, so it might be worth a shot."



"Aleka...That was your name, right? Would you please give us that apple?"



"Hmm... I can try. But who should I give it to? I mean, there's so many of you... Well, Monika asked first though. Oh, but she also said you're all gonna need it, right? Hmmm..."

Hitsugi inspected the newcomers. Somehow she could tell Aqua looked like some kind of fighter given how everyone in ARKS wore various kinds of outlandish battle gear. She wouldn't look out of place there. Then there's the strawberry blonde. Something about her felt wrong. Maybe it's her weird fashion sense? The other two, Miles and Goro, look about the most normal among them. This is. Interesting to say the least.



"Hey, Aleka, are you all right? You're kind of spacing out on us."

Come to think of it, you don't hear a name like Aleka very often... Best not to comment on it for now.

Adachi wrote:"Yeah yeah, I hear you loud and clear. Sheesh... no need to yell."

Well, at least someone was in the room with him. Good to know.

Standing up, glad to have his bearings back even in the dark, Spidey grabbed the bag nearby, located the included strap, and slung it over his shoulder. He had no idea what might happen to be inside, but he could tell there were more people outside of this room. This all seemed a little too deliberate for it to be next to him when he awoke for no reason, so learning the reason would just have to wait. For now, it was about time to get moving.

Or to try, at least.

"I'll just assume that means you're not some devious villain. They usually love a line like that; it gives them a chance to start monologuing."
Thankfully, spidey-sense makes it quite a bit easier to navigate without seeing. Orienting himself away from the grump and towards the crack of light that presumably came from the door, it was time to make his way over and search for the knob.

"Is there a light switch over there, or would that be too convenient?"

Monika starts to reach out towards the apple with a smile on her face. As she is about to touch it, her smile vanishes and she stares off to the side for a moment. After a few seconds pass, Monika retracts her hand.



"Actually, you know what? One of you guys can hold onto it. Either Hitsugi or, uh, you." She gestures to Junko. "I need to keep my hands empty anyways. I'm actually looking for a writing utensil if anyone has one! Writing poems helps me calm down in stressful situations... Oh, right, I forgot to mention that! I'm the president of the literature club at my school! Gosh, I'm being really forgetful today. Maybe it's whatever knocked me out..."



"I'm assuming that none of you remember how you got here either, right?"

"I don't mind holding on to it." First to claim the prize, huh? "And president of literature club? I was voted student council president at my school and we sort of have our own gaming club. Things got hectic during spring semester but it's calmed down now."



"Wish I could say I remembered but I got nothing. Ended up here in one of the bedrooms."

Aleka wrote:


"What are stairs?"

Why yes. You are not mistaken. This is a phrase that was just uttered. What an odd day it is.

'What are stairs.'

A perfectly logical statement that was causing no issues within Edgeworth's head.



"Well...Stairs would be...a way to move between floors without having to use the...elevator..."

....

Wait.

LOGIC: "Map of the Hotel" + "'What are Stairs' Question" + "Elevator" = ...

Oh no.





"Are there no stairs in this bloody hotel?!"

Edgeworth: "My name is Miles Edgeworth, though just Edgeworth would be fine. I am 27...By chance are there any stairs? I would prefer not to take the elevator."

Aleka: "What are stairs?"

Edgeworth: "Well...Stairs would be...a way to move between floors without having to use the...elevator..."

Edgeworth: "...! Are there no stairs in this bloody hotel?!"

"Come to think of it... There used to be something like that here! Yeah, I'm pretty sure. But that's not anymore now. I mean, that's just how it is. Things start existing, then they stop."



"Like you! You guys are here now! I think that's much better than those stair-things! Right?"

Aqua: "Aleka...That was your name, right? Would you please give us that apple?"

Aleka: "Hmm... I can try. But who should I give it to? I mean, there's so many of you... Well, Monika asked first though. Oh, but she also said you're all gonna need it, right? Hmmm..."

Hitsugi: "Hey, Aleka, are you all right? You're kind of spacing out on us."

"Hm? Oh, yes, I'm fine! I just can't really decide who to give this. Hmm..."

Monika: "Actually, you know what? One of you guys can hold onto it. Either Hitsugi or, uh, you."

Monika: "I need to keep my hands empty anyways. I'm actually looking for a writing utensil if anyone has one! Writing poems helps me calm down in stressful situations... Oh, right, I forgot to mention that! I'm the president of the literature club at my school! Gosh, I'm being really forgetful today. Maybe it's whatever knocked me out..."

Hitsugi: "I don't mind holding on to it."

"Hm, but there's other people who could want it too, right? Like, like... That person over there! Or that one... Oh I don't know all your names yet. That makes it only harder to decide...!"

Hitsugi: "And president of literature club? I was voted student council president at my school and we sort of have our own gaming club. Things got hectic during spring semester but it's calmed down now."

Monika: "I'm assuming that none of you remember how you got here either, right?"

Hitsugi: "Wish I could say I remembered but I got nothing. Ended up here in one of the bedrooms."

"Hm? Why, is that weird? I think when you start existing, it makes sense you just have to start out somewhere?"

"I started out on the second floor myself! That's where the restaurant is... Oh, I know, we should all go and have some food later! I've never had food with other people before! It's gonna be fun!"

---

It was here that Aqua took note of something that struck her as slightly... odd. She turned to Hitsugi and Monika.



"Excuse me, but I'm a little confused... Do the two of you know each other?"

"The second floor...?" And there's a restaurant too? This is a really fancy hotel. Are we in Las Vegas or something?

Nenilein wrote:"Excuse me, but I'm a little confused... Do the two of you know each other?"

"Aha, no we don't. I thought since she was head of her club at her school, I thought I'd bring up mine. Besides, I don't think I've seen her around on Tensei Academy grounds before. That's the school I go to."

She brandished her school uniform and emblem. "Her uniform is definitely not the sister school's either."

"Hm... That's odd." Aqua claimed. "Didn't she just call you by name? 'Hitsugi'... But I could swear Sir, um... right, Edgeworth here and I arrived before everyone started introducing themselves, and I'm sure I hadn't heard your name until she said it..."

Aqua had been putting extra effort into keeping up with everyone's introductions so far, so refering to all these people wouldn't end up being an awkward line of "You with the X" in the long run. So Hitsugi's name coming up out of nowhere had really stood out to her.

"Unless that's not actually your name..?"

Since Junko got to where the big group was chatting, she had been listening intently to the continous back an forth in perfect silence. It probably looked kind of creepy to the only other person she had introduced herself to. When Monika offered the golden apple to her, however, her eyes lit up again. She'd be a fool to miss the obvious symbolism going on.  




"M-Me? Taking something so important-looking? No way! I'd probably misplace it in like a minute. Silly me!"

With a clap on the back, Junko pushed Goro forward, getting him closer to the apple. She looked at him expectatingly, with a particularly mischievous smirk on her lips.




"Maybe HE should have it! Akechi just told me he's a great detective! I'm sure he'll have all of this figured out in a sec."

Just. Mentally facepalming right now. Are you kidding me?



"Ma'am, I've been born Hitsugi Yasaka my whole life. Besides, Monika and I were the first ones out in the hallway."

"Oh... I see..."

(I guess they must have introduced each other before we came out then...)

Something about that still seemed strange to Aqua, but it was probably just her imagination. She decided not to dwell on it.

---

"..."

Monika stares at Aqua for a few seconds as the thoughts process for her. She takes a deep breath and shrugs before shaking her head back and forth.



"I don't know. Hitsugi's name just sort of... came to me. Like some sort of intuition, or maybe even inspiration? Maybe we've all been trapped here for a long time and we've had our memories wiped over and over. So I met Hitsugi on a prievious loop!"

Satisfied with her explanation, she steps over to Akechi and looks at him a little closer.



"... Perfect! If he's a detective, he can save all of us in no time flat! Just like a Sherlock Holmes story. I hope you're a little nicer than Mr. Holmes, though. I changed my mind, we should give him the apple! Everyone agrees, right? We should make decisions as a group after all!"

She steps back from Akechi and laughs nervously.



"Oh there I go again, trying to be a leader! Like I said earlier,  I used to be a club president, so I kind of do that without thinking..."

"Time loops?" That sounds concerning. Hell, anything can happen at this rate. Time loops could very well be a thing. Monika could be right for all we know.

"Anyway, let's fix this. My name is Hitsugi Yasaka, I'm a student at Tensei Academy in Japan. I'm student council president  and uh, former member of Mother Cluster. Make that ex-member since it disbanded."

Goro swalled uncomfortably, his tie suddenly a little too tight for his liking. He scratched the back of his head with what might have looked like modesty, or otherwise nervousness. It was hardly surprising that his roommate had already decided to use him as a human shield of sorts, but he would have to play along for the time being.



"Well, a democracy can't possibly be wrong, right? I'm willing to take one for the team if that is what you all would like."



"Perhaps we can call this a trust exercise. Or does that sound too corny?"



"That said, I do think we should conduct our own investigation before we make any decisions."

This apple might well be the key necessary to escape, but something was off. The first key, just lying out in the open like this? It was far too convenient.