"You're joking", James snapped in disgust. "If that creature is real, then how on earth do we know it wasn't responsible for either of the deaths here?!"

---

"That is the point. We did find a human hand and a scrap of bloody white clothing in one of its mouths."

"Bloody white clothing…that must have been the quack", James deduced. "So then…how exactly can we vote for an animal as the killer if it turns out she died first?"

---

"I am unsure. Perhaps we will be told something once the first topic is over."

"I-I don't know. I don't know what the hell is even going on here. I just..."

Urumi shook her head and took a deep breath to calm herself. "Okay. I was heading back to the cabin, following Keri since she had the light. I... don't know what happened after that. I fell... I think? It felt like I was falling. Next thing I know, I'm in that pitch-black cave under the well. I heard the announcement go off, then the light came on. Keri, Jack, V.A.L., and you were there, though you were still out. The four of us who were awake searched around for an exit, but all we found was that deep shaft. Then all of a sudden, I heard Irene yelling behind us, so I turned around to see she'd gone all Warrior Princess on that two-headed... thing..." She winced. "We checked one of its mouths, and saw... the thing that triggered the second announcement."

---

James remained silent for a while before speaking up. "On the topic of that monstrous killer person that was encountered…from the build of the person, it could have been either the rebel or the pillock. The rebel was present when the killer was encountered, thus eliminating him from the suspect list in that regard. However, the latter insists on his innocence, even though he is the only remaining contender. Yet, I feel a need to believe him in the end, I doubt he would bother lying if he were the killer. And…"

He paused to look at Raul. "The revolutionary was clearly shot in that footage, yet he bears no bullet wound on his body. This seems quite suspicious. Almost as if…he wasn't at the scene at all. This is far too suspect to overlook, for if he wasn't there, where was he? He claims to have been chasing the figure, but does he have any proof of that? Was he possibly killing someone, or was he the "Corpse", as has been dubbed by you lot? And also, who is the man who got shot in this footage? Could he be a body double? We need answers, rebel", he told Raul, rudely as ever. "We need you to be truthful for once in your pitiful life or I won't be able to stop the killer from escaping."

---

"Ah, y-yes, you are right, that will help," Keri said gratefully, doing so. She opened her eyes again to watch the video as it played, however, and the horrific sights only sent her into more of a panic. It was a while longer before she'd calmed down enough to speak.

Once she felt ready, she looked up at the others to recount her own experiences. "I don't th-think I can add anything to what has already been said, but I will give a full description in case that helps... Um, so, as has been said, after 11:00 I tried to lead everyone back to the cabins by the light of the lantern. Many fell behind until it was just me, Irene and Miss Sawamatsu, but then Miss Sawamatsu disappeared somehow... By the light of the lanterns we should have seen her the whole time, yet we did not recall anything happening.

"In fact I do not remember the time from the campfire to the cabins at all, as though the intervening events had simply not happened. This is a recurring theme in my memories, there are various times in which my recollection becomes blurred and my mind just... skips ahead? It seems to coincide with the appearances of the... m-monster, too. Whenever it appears and drags someone away, I do not remember anything at all shortly after. Th-this... lines up with what we experienced a few days ago, I think? When Miss Sawamatsu saw a monster staring in through the window, but could not recall this at all just moments later," she said, glancing over at Urumi apologetically when she did so, not ever having detailed this. "We had thought it just a prank then, but now...

"Um, anyway, so, after Miss Sawamatsu disappeared Irene and I decided to wait at the cabins, hoping the lantern could guide people back. At some point Koichi, Jack and VAL all came running towards us. Florian sneaked in too, but from another direction. Koichi seemed relieved that we were okay, as others were still unaccounted for; this was after they had encountered the 'corpse', who Jack fought off with his regained talent. We all headed back to the fire pit due to the danger the 'corpse' posed, but once again my memory jumps ahead here: one moment we are all walking together, the next Jack is missing. Koichi and VAL seemed to retain their memories though, and described a monster with a long neck, clawed arms, pale skin and covered in blood. It dragged Jack away, and knocked Koichi into the lake before he could shoot it, apparently.

"At the time I did not believe it was a monster; that should have been impossible, I thought it much more likely it was an animal that was panicking, and fear had simply made Koichi see it differently. Koichi told me where it had gone and I went after it to rescue Jack, Florian joining me, while in the meantime VAL, Irene and Koichi planned to search for the others. I kept the lantern with me so that I could better see in the dark woods. We heard strange shuffling noises and went towards them, but again my memories blurred and I am unsure what happened. I remember falling unexpectedly through the ground as many others have also, though the memory is faint. More vividly, however, I recall one small scene that is very strange: I was dragged into the earth while light filtered in from above, and then a glowing, metallic hand reached down and grabbed me. It... sounds like the same hand others have mentioned.

"I awoke in darkness, and it was then I realised I could n-no longer slow my heart. I was panicking quite severely, and then heard a body discovery announcement. I heard Miss Sawamatsu, and then VAL projected light from its eyes so that we could all see, finding that we were in a cave. Other than me there was VAL, Miss Sawamatsu, Jack and Bryan who was unconscious. The lantern was missing. Sometime after we heard Irene speaking suddenly, and turned to find her in the cave also, quite unafraid, talking down... an empty space in the air? Her eyes had a rather vacant look to them... but then she pulled out a knife and plunged it into a monster who I hadn't seen until just that moment! I do not understand it at all... honestly I had assumed my panicking was simply making me confused, but now others have corroborated the story and I am left bewildered. And very, very afraid."

James turned to Irene with a confused look on his face. "You were talking with the creature? What even got into you to do that?! This entire series of events feels more like a gigantic hallucination more than anything!"

---

"She was threatening it," Keri corrected James. "She was speaking in a very commanding tone, befitting of a queen, and said that it must die. I am not fond of killing but it was quite honestly a very reassuring sight."

She tilts her head. "I did not speak to it. I merely said that it would perish before killing it."

"I never do understand you lot", James sighed. "What was the point of threatening a creature incapable of understanding the English language? It's how I feel interacting with you lot on a daily basis, only this time it's quite literal."

---

"Authoritative speech is a very good way to incite reactions out of people and motivate yourself, I find. I must say, it did work in that situation."

"Out of people", James reminded.

---

"Consider the last part again. Then maybe you will understand."

"What form of moti- ah, wait." James stopped himself short. "I believe we're getting carried away here. Let us go back to what we were discussing. In all honesty, I find some of these alibis quite peculiar. Several discrepancies are present and for some reason, people's memories are quite faulty as well. Could there be a particular reason for that? Did you all inhale some hallucinogenic gas somewhere?"

---

"Animals, plants, perhaps even rocks, there is value in speaking to them all," Keri said, sounding angry at James.



"Actually, I must ask. I do not understand what I saw... in that I saw nothing until you struck. What happened, exactly?"

"I do not know-- or at least, I do not recall so. However, there are significant gaps in memory, all at very important points it looks like. Perhaps something in the campfire?"

James gave an irritated look at Keri, but then turned to look at his camera. "They're all a bunch of bumbling buffoons, aren't they?", he asked it affectionately. He held his camera and bobbed it up and down to mimick nodding. He then kept it down and looked at the zombie. "Perhaps there is some truth in what you say, after all."



"Are you sure your view of the creature wasn't obstructed?", James questioned. "If so, then perhaps there may be a fault with either your eyesight or what you saw."



"The fire?" James raised an eyebrow. "Could it truly have been simple? Maybe you all have simply inhaled carbon monoxide. …But, I never had a lapse in memory. Actually, that reminds me." He suddenly started. "When I saw my camera was lost, I realised my director's sense had suddenly vanished again. I feared that the same person took both, but when I recovered this"- he gestured to the camera with which he had just finished affectionately speaking to-"it suddenly came back. This may or may not be relevant to the case."

---

"I was watching you all for some time, when my eyes locked with a hollow looking fleshy face. It had empty eye sockets and stretchy white skin, with bloody teeth peering over the edge of its lips. Truly, had I not struck first, I may have died."

"That... sounds remarkably like the monster Miss Sawamatsu witnessed a few days ago," Keri noted, shuddering. "Did it only have one head? That aspect is still confusing to me, as Koichi did not mention seeing two heads, yet the corpse had two when we approached it."

"It did have two heads when we examined it, yes." Irene nods.

"Wait, I saw what now?" Urumi blinked. "Ugh, yuck, I don't get how I could forget about something like that...

"Koichi didn't mention a lot of things," she added with a frown. "Hard to believe he saw this 'corpse man' as many times as he did and still can't seem to remember anything about him other than he had a tuxedo on."


"I think she's asking if it had two heads when you attacked it. Like, maybe it sprouted another one after you killed it. Doesn't make sense, but then again, NOTHING we're taking about now makes any sense, so..."

---

Irene cocks her head slightly. "I... must say, I am not sure about that." She thinks about it for a short while, before speaking up again. "Actually-- no, it did have two heads when I attacked it."

Urumi sighed and shook her head. "Great. Everybody's memories are messed up, we don't have any evidence, no investigation... This should be fun to sort out."

---

"Let's see... Both Irene and I were knocked out by something cold, which was apparently that metal hand Keri mentioned, Jack was dragged away by the monster, Urumi and Keri remember falling... And Rinea's dead body was dragged away as well in that video, and we found her hand in the monster's mouth," Bryan pointed out, shuddering at the memory. "And we all ended up in the caves. Me, Irene, Keri, Jack, Urumi, and V.A.L.--everyone who was knocked out, fell, or was dragged away. Do you think that someone planned to pick us off one by one and trap us down there? It's a little weird we weren't killed right away, after all. Maybe their plan was to kill Rinea--which is why we found her hand--but they didn't expect Florian to die... Which would probably mean there are two separate killers again."

He shrugs. "Just some food for thought."

"Bzzt, I can corroborate several stories," V.A.L. said, speaking up.

"At 11:05pm, bzzt, everyone left the campfire to go back to the cabins, bzzt. Along the way, Jack Jack, Ultimate Koichi and I became separated from the group. Jack Jack made a joke about it being the perfect time to be attacked by a serial killer, bzzt, which agitated Ultimate Koichi. Jack Jack predicted I would be the one attacked, bzzt, as I am 'the closest thing we have to a minority'," the robot repeated verbatim. "Bzzt, then, we heard laughter behind us, and as Ultimate Koichi has explained, the 'corpse' attacked me. I am fine, bzzt," it said.

"Koichi threatened the corpse - which was indeed wearing a tuxedo with blood stains - but Jack Jack stepped in and fought it off, bzzt. We continued to the cabins and encountered Ultimates Keri and Irene there, with Florian arriving as well from another direction. Ultimate Koichi explained what had happened, bzzt, and we left as a group to find the others, bzzt."

"As we walked along the lake, bzzt, a....thing emerged from the trees. It cannot be described as human, bzzt, it was a confusing tangle of limbs. It attacked us and grabbed Jack Jack, bzzt, dragging it into the forest. Ultimate Koichi tried to shoot it, but something knocked him into the lake, bzzt. Ultimates Keri and Florian left to track the creature, while Ultimate Koichi, Irene, and I continued to find the others, bzzt."

"We encountered Ultimates Raul and Rinea, their way blocked by the corpse, bzzt. Ultimate Koichi drew it's attention, and it fled. I gave chase, leaving Ultimates Koichi and Florian with Rinea and Raul, bzzt, but soon lost track of the corpse in the confusion of the forest. I was about to turn around and head back, bzzt, when a sickly pale hand emerged from the ground. I tried to escape, bzzt, but it grabbed me and dragged me down into the ground, bzzt. I fell straight down onto a stone surface, bzzt, and the hand disappeared."

"I called out, but no one answered, bzzt. All around me was darkness. Suddenly I heard a body discovery announcement, bzzt, and I could also hear panting. Then I heard voices, bzzt, and engaged my lights, bzzt, illuminating the area. I could see Jack Jack, and Ultimates Keri, Urumi, and Bryan, bzzt, the last of whom was unconscious. Then, we heard the voice of Ultimate Irene, bzzt," it continued.

"'That’s it! You must die, foul beast!' she declared, bzzt. It was very authoritative, bzzt, I detected no fear in her voice, unlike the Ultimate Keri and Urumi. Ultimate Irene had a slight smile on her face, bzzt, as she stared at...it seemed like nothing, to me, bzzt. But then, when she stabbed forward, I could see something, bzzt. It was the creature as others have described, bzzt, and in one of it's mouths was a hand and white cloth, bzzt."

"BZzt, it seems to me," V.A.L. speculated, "that someone or several someones was trying to scare the group and film it, bzzt, and along the way, Ultimates Rinea and Florian were killed - by accident or by choice, bzzt."

"Hey, I wasn't scared!" Urumi objected loudly. "I was just, you know, annoyed. ...So did you grab Keri? She said a metal hand grabbed her, and, well, you're the only one here with those."

---

"I have audio files of you screaming, bzzt," the robot said. "I believe you said: 'Eeeek! Save me! Get me the hell out of here!'. I apologize if that was not you, bzzt."

"And no, bzzt, I did not grab Ultimate Keri," V.A.L. answered. "I did not grab anyone, bzzt."

"Yeah. That's what I sound like when I'm annoyed," Urumi insisted as her face burned. "It was dark and sucky in there and I wanted someone to get me out. I screamed because... uh... it was really dark in there like I said, and I stubbed my toe on something. It hurt. You can't prove otherwise."

---

Raul was silent for a while after watching the video. "I...have no idea what this could mean. I clearly remember most of this exchange, but actually being shot? Everyone has already seen how I am fine right now."




Raul turned to James."This theory is heavily flawed. If I used a body double that got shot while I was committing a murder, why wouldn't I find a way to fake being wounded, or even dead? And where would I find a body double in the first place? We would have found the body of this unknown person by know."

---

"Bzzt, I see," V.A.L. acknowledged. "I amend my statement," it announced. "Ultimate Urumi was frustrated, not scared,bzzt."

((Just so you know, the metal hand Keri saw looked like a human hand, not V.A.L.'s claw things.))

---

Bryan crossed his arms. "What do you remember from that moment, Raul? The footage does show you being shot..."

"Exactly", James said, folding his arms as well. "You can try to refute my theory all you like, but the footage is there to prove it. Clearly, there is something fishy going on here."

---

Seeing James fold his arms as well causes Bryan to place his hand on his hip, not wanting to be in the same position as him. "'Course, if memories were apparently tampered with, that could be the case with you, too... But still, it's worth hearin' what you personally remember."

Raul scratched his head. "It's just as I said earlier...I remember Koichi trying to shoot but failing, before I went after the corpse, leaving him behind. And the fact that I'm standing here does contradict the footage. It seems like whatever is messing with people's memories must be at play here, but I can't say how that explains my supposed wound."

He looked like he had suddenly remembered something. "Oh right, it isn't relevant to what we're discussing right now but I saw something odd by the lake when I was returning to the camp." He turned to Bryan. "That weird outfit you wore at the hotel...Doctah Fun Times, was it? I found it floating by the lake...do you have any idea what it was doing there?"

---

Last edited by Cesar Zero on Fri Jul 27, 2018 5:03 pm, edited 1 time in total.

James placed his hands on his hip, looking at Bryan. "Well, you buff buffoon? Were you using that as a disguise of some sort? Or were you mindlessly partying again?"

---

"It's pretty weird..." Bryan shrugs before answering Raul, ignoring James's insult. "And the DJ outfit I had on at the hotel was at the lake?" He shakes his head. "I haven't known about it until now... And how would it even get there? Did someone take it with them as we got off of the blimp?"

"Well, it seems most everything from people's alibis has been shared!" Otto says, "So, here's a few topics to help you out!"

Everyone turns to the screen. This time, the topics aren't marked to either victim. Three of them simply appear on screen at once.

"Why did people lose their memories?"
"How did Rinea die?"
"What was the deal with James's camera?"

"Oh, and don't forget about that storybook puzzle!" Kyle adds, "That chicken fried steak stuff is really good. It even comes with dipping sauce, if that's your thing. But I can't eat it all alone, y'know?"

---