Punishment

Now that Kai thought about it, he actually didn't know all that much about the people he was traveling with.

Sure he knew that Petunia was John's daughter, and that she was named after her mother's favourite flower, but that's about it.

And Cecilia, Kai knew that she had been trapped for ten thousands years, stuck in a hex Anastasia had put her under. He also knew that she was a fan of fashion and was a pretty good cook, but that was really it.

And Remy... they were a rat, that's all Kai knew.

So now that they would have to answer ten questions about each other without getting any wrong... Kai didn't exactly feel confident.

"Alright then, there will be some extra rules for these three questions, otherwise they would be too easy. First of all, the person who the question is about is not allowed to speak, if they do, they will be punished. The other rule is that these questions specifically have a time limit of five minutes each, just so you can't figure out any loopholes.

So, is everyone ready? Yeah? Okay then!"

The light above Petunia intensified, suddenly becoming much brighter than it had been. Kai glanced over at the young girl, realising that the first question must be about her.

"Question eighty-one, what is the origin of the child's name?"

Kai relaxed and let out a small sigh of relief. At least he actually knew the answer to this one, which was a good thing considering that he probably wouldn't know the answer to the other nine questions that were going to be asked.

"It was her mothers favourite flower, that's where the name comes from."

The light descending on Petunia suddenly lit up in a light shade of pink, signifying that Kai was correct.

"A colour change of the light, huh? Trying to spice things up?"

Frosty smirked and shrugged calmly.

"Eh, you know how it is, can't have a gameshow being too repetitive, otherwise it gets real boring real quick."

Kai sighed and shook his head.

"Don't I know it..."

Frosty frowned and leaned forward.

"Hey- What's that supposed to... Ah, nevermind, I'm not wasting a question on that. On to question eighty-two!"

The light surrounding Petunia disappeared and instead appeared over Kai, lighting him up and almost making him look like an angel with how bright and radiant he currently was.

"What is Mr Boring Name's favourite food?"

While the other three were figuring out how to answer that question, Kai couldn't help but feel uncomfortable.

Frosty had said that the person who the question was about wouldn't be allowed to talk, but he had assumed that the spirit just meant Kai wouldn't be allowed to speak.

But no, Kai physically could not open his mouth. It was like it was being held close by magic or something strange like that.

The feeling was uncomfortable, to say the least.

"The answer is Lasagne."

Cecilia ended up answering the question. To be honest, that was probably the easiest question asked since the mid thirties. They had been dining together as a group since they left the city from a box that could create any food they wanted, so of course they would mostly be consuming their favourite food.

And for Kai, that food was lasagne.

"Correct, maybe you do know a little about each other, maybe...

Ah, I'm kidding, I'll ask a proper question now."

The familiar light left Kai alone and shifted its target to Cecilia, the bright light encasing the ex-Queen as she fell victim to the same silencing spell that Kai and Petunia had just been subjected to.

"Question eighty-three...

What is Cecilia's mother's name?"

Kai froze.

Cecilia's mother?

He had no idea.

Sure Cecilia had mentioned her mother to him, but she had never actually told him her name.

And now, that fact was coming back to bite them in the butt.

"No quick answer for this one, huh? Well, you can take your time, you still have over four minutes to decide on your answer."

Kai glanced over at Petunia, wondering would the young child have any idea of the answer.

That hope was soon extinguished when Petunia shook her head softly.

Gripping onto his stand, Kai racked his mind for anything that could possibly help him, any tidbit of information that could help him figure out the answer.

But there was nothing.

And it's not like he could just ask Cecilia-

Kai froze once more, a small grin forming on his face which he lifted his hand to hide.

While he couldn't ask her through regular speaking, it's not like he couldn't ask her through another method.

A method that was to do with conversing with someone through their mind.

Grinning, Kai activated Telepathy and-

Cried out in pain.

Kai stumbled forward, madly gripping onto his stand for any sort of solace from the pain. It was like his brain had been placed in a jar of lava as a punishment, like it was sitting in the insides of a volcano. The pain was overwhelming.

Meanwhile, Frosty was above him, laughing madly as they clutched their stomach, their whiskers twitching with every movement.

After letting Kai suffer for a few moments, they finally spoke.

"Do you believe that I don't have the countermeasures needed for mental communication? I'm the best game show host in this entire Subdimension, of course I do! What kind of host would I be if I allowed people to cheat so easily?"

Heaving, Kai slowly steadied himself, standing upright as he blankly stared up at the feline spirit.

Then, Frosty spoke again.

"Now, its time for your punishment!"

Kai's eyes widened.

"What? The pain wasn't the punishment?"

Frosty burst out laughing again as they levitated a little closer to the worn out Kai, bringing their cute face a little closer to his own.

"Of course not, that was just a deterrent, so you don't attempt it again. No, a punishment has to be grand, a show of power that punishes everyone, not just one member."

Suddenly, three lights lip up, one on Remy, on one Cecilia and the final one on Petunia. Kai was not lit up by any light.

"The punishment is simple. Much like the offer I gave you, that you accepted, one of you will have to spin the wheel and face one of my prized possessions.

But since Mr Boring Name has already fought, I feel that it's unfair for him to have to fight again, so they will be excluded from this.

So now, you have to pick between the other three of you who will fight and which two will stay back and watch the carnage unfold."

Kai froze, his eyes wide as he stared up at the spirit, horrified.

"What... did you just say?"

Rolling their eyes, Frosty hit their paw against Kai's nose and said:

"What? Do I have to repeat myself? I said..."

Kai actually heard the spirit the first time, just they didn't want to believe it.

Shit... Maybe he should've just guessed or something, at least then he would have been able to fight the beasts. But now... now.

"Alas, all hope is not lost. You can choose to just accept your fate and select one of your companions to spin the wheel, but I will also offer you one last attempt at answering. However, if you get the answer wrong, you will still have to select one teammate, only they will have to face three cages instead of one."

Kai's eyes widened even more.

"How the hell is that fair?!"

Frosty grinned happily, their eyes gleaming with malice and amusement.

"It isn't, but who ever said that this game would be fair. I certainly did not."

Silence.

It was rough. Kai had prided himself on being a somewhat decent leader, but now he just felt... defeated.

Ah screw it, while he was being honest, he was a shitty leader. He had made that promise to himself about not brute forcing his way through things anymore and trying to get a little better at things, but all he had done while scaling this mountain was brute force things.

Maybe that's all he was good for.

He wasn't cunning like Noelle, or smart like Failure, or wise like Aldred. He wasn't charismatic like Sofia, or confident like John, he wasn't even as mentally strong as someone like Ezekial.

But then again, did he need to be?

After all, he still remembered what Annie had said to him.

Sometimes, it's okay to be selfish.

So what would a selfish person do in this situation?

Kai grinned, realising what the answer to that question was.

Have nobody fight, of course.

Kai closed his eyes, trying to think of anything that could possibly help him out in this situation, any sort of trick or loophole, Frosty seemed to love loopholes, and-

Suddenly, Kai's eyes widened. Slowly, he lifted up his hand to cover his mouth, his mind reeling.

"No... it can't be, right?"

Frosty's ears perked up.

"What was that? Boring Name?"

Slowly, Kai lifted his head to look up at the spirit, his hand still covering his mouth.

And after hesitating for another moment, he said:

"Frosty, the answer to that question is Frosty."