Chapter 1: An Empty Room Full of Talent Part 1

Once the door was shut, I noticed the girl's expression. It was distant, anxious, and worrisome about what had just happened.

"Hey," I said, walking up and resting a hand on her shoulder, "Don't worry about him. We can come back to get him once we figure out the situation we're in." My words made her seem a bit less anxious, so to help her relax more, I started to walk down the hallway, gesturing for her to come with.

"What's your name then? I gave you mine, so I think it's fair to reciprocate, right?" My new invitation for her to open up worked, as the girl's face lit up as she followed behind me in our adventure down the hallway.

"My name's Poppy, Poppy Hale. I'm the Ultimate Internet Comedian!"

"Ultimate? What's an Ultimate?" I questioned, further provoking her to tug at her own ego, but also causing her to look more confused than prideful.

"It's a big ol' talent ya get by going through some test where a bunch of weird old people decide what you're good at. I got the status of internet comedian, which is a fancy way of saying I'm a professional meme lord!" Her pridefulness was showing a lot more now as she finished her explanation.

"So does everyone have a talent?"

"Nah, it's for people who got scouted to go to that big school out in who knows where."

"Oh yeah, I've heard of that school. So you went there?"

"I...guess I did? Since I have an talent but-" Cutting herself off, Poppy started rubbing her temple, which helped me realize what the problem was.

"Do you not remember anything about your life after getting your Ultimate?" My response caused her to jolt her eyes open in shock.

"How'd ya know?"

"Well, I don't know anything about myself before waking up here either, just my name, basic information, and that's about it."

"That's funky...I can remember everything about me, but nothing about after school, god this SUCKS." The both of us were concerned about our memory loss, and we pondered questions that came up in our heads to each other for what seemed like hours walking down this hallway, until we reached the next point of interest.

"Oh, hey A.K., look, it's a door!" Poppy pointed, and my eyes followed to a new door, on our left, which looked exactly like the one we had just exited. We both rushed over to it, and as much as I hated to admit it, the idea of finding more people to try and unravel the mystery of our capture filled me with excitement, but my own logic got in the way of that before I went to open the door.

"Poppy, hide those keys behind your back," I cautioned, holding the door handle, "If there are more people in there, I want to get a read on their personalities before we give them a chance to escape, I don't want to let out someone like that guy in our room." Understanding my logic, Poppy nodded, and hid the key ring behind her back, and prepared herself, as I pulled open the room into the next room of this maze of mysteries.

There were three new people in this new room, who all looked to be in similar situations as us. The first, a girl on my right, looked well on her way to a panic attack. She had light red hair in a bob haircut, and a pink jacket on her shaking shoulders. She wore a deep purple T-shirt underneath, and blue jeans, ending with a pair of pink shoes.

The next, a man straight ahead of me, looked more composed than the girl. He had slicked back black hair, with a buttoned up black shirt. A pair of glasses hung down from his collar, and his shirt sleeves were rolled up, to show a more casual look. He also wore black pants, with silver shoes to top it all off. He stood with stride and confidence as we entered.

The final one, another boy on my right, was hiding in the corner. He had his hands in a bunch, held out in front of him like a cartoon villain. He had messy long, curly hair, covering one of his eyes. On the other eye, I could see a pair of large glasses. He wore a black and white striped long sleeve shirt, and grey shorts, ending with a pair of black shoes, lacking any laces.

"O-Oh God! Please don't steal my kidneys, I have so much to live for!" Was the warm welcome we both got, given graciously by the girl in the room, who was now on her knees, pleading for her life.

"We aren't here to steal any organs, sorry for the scare." I explained, making her take a moment to calm down, before realizing how pathetic she looked, which led to her backing away from us and awkwardly sitting in her original spot.

"Well, if you aren't going to hurt us, then can we assume that you aren't involved in this deranged kidnapping?" Spoke the first guy in the room, who already seemed more confident in himself than anyone else in the room.

"Can I tell 'em yet Aka, or do ya need more of a read first?" Poppy carelessly asked me, not making any of our intentions subtle in the least.

"M-more of a read?! Wh-what are you, some kind of f-fortune teller?!" Finally spoke the other guy in the room, who was shaking and cowering in the corner while speaking.

"No, I just needed to check and see if you all were safe enough to trust with these," I started, yoinking the keys from Poppy's hand, and walking to the center of the room, "Thankfully, you all seem fine, so if you give me your names, I can let you out of here." As I finished my mini speech, I held up the key ring, causing all three of the characters to gasp collectively, followed by the girl scurrying over as close to me as possible.

"Me! Me first please! I'm getting really tired from being chained up!"

"Alright then, what's your name?" I calmly asked.

"Oh yeah, my name's Akira! Akira Natsumi, Ultimate Sports Commentator, nice to meet you, now please let me out!" Introducing herself, Akira made multiple exaggerated gestures, before holding her chained leg up, prompting me to grab her key off the key ring, labeled 'A.N.' coincidentally.

"Huh, that's neat, we have the same initials." I said, tossing her key to her, which she caught in an instant and used to free herself. Once she was free, she stretched herself as I turned to the guy still cowering in the corner, calmly and slowly, who instantly perked up and started stumbling over himself.

"Uh-Uh my name….Uh my name is Jinju Hatsuda! I'mTheUltimateParanormalInvesigatorNiceToMeetYou!" Jinju spat out as fast as he could, making record time on an introduction, while also looking like he was about to pass out because of how fast he was shaking. Unfortunately for him, Poppy noticed his nervousness and chimed in to tease him.

"Nice to meet you Jinju, I'm Poppy! You seem nice." She gave him a gleeful smile and leaned towards him, causing him to go beet red.

"H-H-H-Hello Poppy!" I carefully tossed the shaking ghostbuster his key. While he struggled to fit it to his lock due to his intense shaking, I turned to the last guy, who was already prepared for my question.

"No need to ask. My name is Liam Ikana, and unfortunately, I do not have one of these so called 'Ultimates', so I would like my key and an explanation if you would." After handing him his key and letting Poppy explain the idea of talents all of our new companions were freed from their chains.

"I see, how very interesting. This is very useful information to have." Liam nodded, holding his finger to his chin.

"Well I think more useful information to have right now is where we are, don'tcha think?" Akira retorted.

"Yeah, you have a point. Poppy and I came in from that door, but there's more hallway out and to the left, so there might be some answers if we keep going that way." I explained, making everyone gain a look of encouragement, including Jinju surprisingly.

"Th-Then let's go!" In fact he was the first one to move for the exit, followed by the rest, and led by myself, and just as planned, we exited the room and headed for the left, further down the dark hallway that we were in just minutes ago. As we walked down the corridor, we filled the empty void of silence with some questions and banter back and forth.