Outside the Grand Hall's doors were 3 hallways. I had come from the one to the left, meaning that's where all the rooms were at.

1 group stayed behind to check out the kitchen.  The other 2 groups had already gone through the left and front hallway, so we went to the right.

It didn't look much different from the hallway with the rooms, except this one didn't have 16 doors.

We walked down it for a minute until we reached a dead end. Well, a sorta dead end.  There was only a single door in the entire hallway, and it was at the very end of it.

Seto, who had been leading the way, stopped about a foot from the door.  The red creeper symbol on his back began glowing slightly.  I heard his breath catch in his throat. "There's...something magical here.  I can feel the power emitting from the room."

The door was purple, the same shade as Seto's cloak thingie.  The doorknob was golden and glistening slightly in the dim light.

Seto walked forward and opened the door.  It swung inwards to reveal the one thing I hate almost as much as cooked fish. BOOKS. BOOKS EVERYWHERE.

I groaned and followed everyone else in.  Mitch was also groaning as we walked in.  I guess he didn't like to read, either.  Jess, on the other hand, looked like she could barely contain herself.

In the center of the room was an obsidian slab covered with a red cloth.  The cloth seemed to be bolted in place with diamond-colored corners.  A closed, yellow book was floating slightly above the center of it.

Seto gasped and ran forward to the book.  When he was a couple blocks away, the book opened.  Jess had ran off somewhere in the room.  Probably to read something.

Weird symbols flew out of the book and began orbiting Seto.  I walked forward almost involuntarily. Something was drawing me to the book.

Seto glanced at me warily as I approached the book.  I couldn't read the symbols at all.  "What language is this?" I pondered.

"Standard Galactic. A cryptic language that few can read."  Seto explained.

I frowned, wondering what they were saying.  Suddenly, 5 symbols floated in front of me and began shifting.

T. H. R. E. E.

The letters faded away, leaving me in wonder and shock.

Three? Three what?

Seto tapped my shoulder, bringing me from my thoughts. "I think you three should head back now. I'm gonna stick around to see if I can find anything out."

I looked back at Mitch. "Can you go find Jess?"

He nodded and ran off into the bookshelves.

Seto's eyes flashed purple.  "Tell them I'll be along in a few."

I nodded as Mitch came out with Jess. She looked a little sad.  "All these books are in Standard Galactic.  Ugh."  Jess groaned.

Both Mitch and I chuckled slightly.  "Come on, guys.  Seto's gonna stay behind to search for anything useful.  We need to go back to the Grand Hall."  I said.

They nodded, and we left, leaving Seto to search for any information.

When we arrived back in the hall, the other 3 groups were already there, waiting for us.

Sky glanced around, probably counting everyone.  "15.  Where's Seto?"

"He's still in the library room.  He'll be here in a bit."  I responded.

He nodded.  "OK.  So let's share what we found."  He glanced at Mark's group.

Mark glanced at Felix before speaking.  "We went through the straight hallway.  A little ways down is a staircase to the second floor, but it's barred off.  At the end of the hall is a door leading into a glass room.  You can see the outside world.  I attempted to break the glass, but nothing I did even scratched it.  MonoKirby appeared telling us that it is unbreakable glass.  At least we can still see the outside world."

Sky nodded and looked at me.

"We went through the hall to the right.  There are no doors at all until you get to the end of it.  There's a purple door with a gold knob---"  "Budder."  "What?"  "Budder knob."  Sky said warily.

I paused.  "Umm...OK, then.  A budder knob that leads into a room FILLED with books.  There's a weird table in the center of the room.  Seto went up to it and and these weird symbols were flying out and orbiting him.  He stayed there to look through the books, which are all in Standard Galactic."

Sky nodded again and he spoke.  "We stayed here to check out the kitchen.  MonoKirby wasn't kidding about tons of food.  There's everything from raw fish to steak to apples to foods I can't even name.  There's a stove, a grill, and an oven in there for cooking things.  There's also...7 knives in there."  Sky finished, grimacing at the word knives.

I frowned.  "At least we know that."

I notice Ian smiling strangely.  I gave him a questioning glance, and he just laughed.  "I'm the Super Baker, remember?  Naturally I'm probably gonna bake some cakes."

"That'd be awesome!"  I exclaimed.

Ian smiled.  "Yeah.  Anyways, we went down the left hall where all the rooms are.  There are 16, so we all live in the same area.  At the very end of the hall is a red door with a blue knob.  We went inside and saw a TV with a Wii and a Wii U next to it.  There was also a case full of games."

"MARIO KART PARTEH!!!"  I yelled, causing everyone to jump.  I smiled sheepishly. "Sorry.  I really love Mario Kart.  You don't own a Wii without Mario Kart."

"So true, bro!  I think I saw it in the case!"  Crainer grinned.

Right as we finished, Seto came in, his face blank.

I arched my eyebrow at him.  "Find anything?"

He sighed.  "Not really.  It was mostly basic Minecraftia knowledge.  I think I did find, though, what this castle used to be.  It used to belong to a penguin-looking king called Dedede.  Apparently, him and MonoKirby had this huge fight.  MonoKirby almost lost until the mastermind stepped in.  He or she did something that killed Dedede.  In exchange for helping him, the mastermind set up this...'game' in Dedede's castle, changing the name to Hope Castle and recruiting MonoKirby as some...game show host...."

Ty chuckled strangely.  "Hope.  Despair.  This game apparently reveals who has much hope and who has much despair."

I frowned.  "Umm...1. What?  2. How would you know that?"

"Come on, Jerome!  Can't you feel the tension in the air?  That feeling of hopelessness?"

I paused, my thoughts focusing on the feelings in the room.  My fur bristled outwards, and I shivered.  "Woah.  Yeah."

"I seriously think that we should get something to eat."  Mark commented, probably to change the subject.  "The sun appeared to be setting when we left the room."

We nodded and all went to the kitchen.

Raw fish, raw fish, raw fish...there you are!

I smiled as I grabbed about 4 or 5 fish and a cup of water.  Pretty much everyone except Ross stared at me weird.  Before I could explain, Ross spoke my thoughts.  "He's a bacca.  They tend to eat raw fish and hate everything that's cooked.  The thing they hate the most is cooked fish."

I smiled awkwardly.  "Umm, yeah.  What he said."

Some shrugged while others chuckled.  We all went out to the Grand Hall and each sat in one of the 16 seats.

I sat down and began chewing on the fish, savoring the feeling of the guts sliding down my throat (I had to re-type that so many times cuz I was laughing at myself so hard.  xD).  I noticed Mitch had sat down next to me.  His plate had a steak, medium-well, a baked potato, and milk.

"Hey, Jerome."  "Shugp, Migtcbh."  I spoke...ish.  My mouth still had fish in it.  He laughed and began eating his steak.  I glanced around the room at the different people.

Felix and Mark were talking about horror games for some reason.

Sky and Jin were debating about gold and butter.  "For the bajillionth time, Sky, it's gold, not butter."  "Jin...what the hell is gold?  It's butter!"  I chuckled slightly at that and kept looking.

Ian and Crainer were talking about...cobblestone and Bobby?  Who's Bobby?

After we finished, a loud ring...well, rang through the air.  "DING DONG, BOYO!  It is now 10 P.M.  Return to your rooms and sleep tight.  HEHEHEHE!"  MonoKirby laughed creepily.

We all glanced worriedly at each other before heading out the doors and down the left hall.

I waved at Mitch, who was 4 doors down from mine.  He waved back and headed into his room.  I glanced one last time at the creepy hallway and the lights that started dimming down.  I entered my room, shut the door, and locked it.  Better safe than sorry.

I laid down on my bed and shivered from the ominous feeling in the air.

What did Ty mean...?  I think as I drift off to sleep.

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