The entire checking to see if the computers worked took what felt like an hour.

"Phew... How long has it been?" Danny asked.

"Uhm... I think 15 to 16 minutes..." Edmond sighed, "So all the computers work..."

"Not all of them."

"Huh?" I looked over to Emily, who was looking at a computer in the corner with Candy.

"This one won't unlock. It needs a password!"

"Hm..." Edmond thought.

"We also still have the backroom to explore..." George pointed out.

"You're right..."

"Well, why don't some of us try to figure out the password to this computer? I'll try my best to do so..." Suzy nodded.

"You have a point, Suz'. I'll go with you." Danny nodded.

"So I guess we're going to check out the back room?" Zoë asked.

"Mhm." I nodded, heading towards the door. Reaching my arm out to it, I slowly pushed on it, creaking as it swung away. We peaked in, my eyes noticing a small, wooden desk illuminated by a small ceiling light. All around it laid multiple scraps of old monitors, computers, telephones, the lot.

"...Oh. My. God." Edmond's jaw hung open, amazed at the sight.

"What?"

"...This doesn't make much sense to me."

"Just think of the possibilities that could be made from these scraps...!"

"Why are there so many pieces of scrap just... Laying here?"

"There's only one other thing I can notice here, and that's the desk here. And besides it being splintered, I don't see much else..." Emily sighed.

"I guess that's... Everything in here?" I replied, looking at everyone else. They all nodded their heads slowly, as we turned to the door, exiting back into the main IT room.

"Welcome back!" Danny giggled, "What'ya find?"

"A lot of computer scraps. Oh, and a desk." Candy sighed, "I've no idea what it means..."

"Me neither..." I tilted my head to the side a bit, "Did you find anything that might represent a password?"

"Nah. Nothing." He shrugged.

"Dammit..." Zoë scoffed.

"Yeah... It seems like that computer will be locked for quite a while..." Suzy rubbed the back of head, "Maybe we should look in another room?"

"Sure. See you later Edmond!" George waved to the elephant in green before leaving the room.

"Yeah... See you later on." I smiled, leaving the room with Danny and Suzy right behind me.

"Now where should we go?"

"Hm..." I pulled out the handbook again, flipping it on gradually. Taking a look at the map, I realised that the only major rooms left were at the other end of the hallway.

"Let's check down there." I pointed down the hallway, away from the library. "The map says that there's a couple rooms down there..."

"Let's go then!"

"Hold on a minute... What's that there?" Suzy pointed at an opening in the wall on the left side.

"...Is that a staircase?" Danny ran up to it, reaching his paws to the opening, before jumping back a bit.

"Guys, come over here!"

We shuffled over to the opening. Danny way right - It was indeed a staircase. However, we were blocked from exploring up it by a large metal fence, covering the entire opening.

"What purpose is there to block off the staircase?"

"Oh, you know, so you don't go overkill with exploring."

"Wh-What the-" Danny whipped around, meeting Monopotato dead in the eye. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?-"

"I thought I might explain to you. Since you found the stairs to the second floor. These stairs are off limits!" Monopotato exclaimed, "Unless something... Happens according to the rules, these stairs are going to be off limits. Anyways, cheerio!"

"Wait- Wh-What do you mean by acc-"

Monopotato was gone.

...Did he just disappear into thin air?

"...Well. I take it that we aren't allowed to question this." George sighed.

"Yeah. Let's see what rooms are over there." I nodded, picking up my pace again. The rest soon followed after me.

"...Well, let's see what's down here." I took a breath, twisting the handle of the wooden door and pushing it, revealing a marbled sight...

...A nurse's office.

"...Oh. My. GOD!!!"

Yep. Suzy's deffo amazed.

The sheep scrambled past me, getting a hold of the room in front of us. Multiple cabinets, and a few hospital beds, not to mention small stands nearby them standing upon the marble floor. The whole place had a orderly, silent atmosphere to it.

"Wow...     Man, I can really get why Suzy's amazed!" Danny chuckled, going in to see the room for himself. Me and George soon followed suit, looking around and checking out the cream white room.

However, something weird caught my eye.

In the corner near the door laid a stand with a drawer, with a tray upon it, a metallic shine glistening from it. I turned to it, squinting to try and figure out what it was.

My heart skipped a beat when I realised what it was.

I got a bit closer to the stand, seeing if what I saw was real. Unfortunately, it was.

A set of scalpels, in various sizes, laid upon the metal tray.

...Shouldn't these things be in a drawer or something?

Why are they out in the open like that? Is Monopotato TRYING to mess with me?!

...

I'm gonna have to ask someone about this.

"Uhm...    Su-"

A surprise burst into the room interrupted all of us. We flipped around, seeing Kylie standing in the doorway.

"Hey girls!"

"...Really?" Danny stared, holding out his arms like he knew someone was going unnecessarily overboard.

"'Scuse me. Boys and girls. Anyways, sorry to interrupt anything, but Freddy decided to call us back! We're meeting in the homeroom. See you there!"

The door closed with a firm click.

"...I guess our group search has concluded then, heh..." I laughed a bit, storing the question about the scalpel set for later.

"Last one to the homeroom's a rotten egg!" Danny giggled, rushing out the door.

"H-Hey! Oh no you don't-" I charged after him, picking up on the fact that George and Suzy were right on my tail.

Well...     Not RIGHT on it. That would hurt.

Soon, after a quick hard fought race, me and Danny fell through the door together. Technically I fell through it first though.

"Ha! I win!" I laughed.

"Aww...    I really thought I had that..."

"Ah, uh, hello you two..."

We looked up, seeing none other than the the fox in the dark red shirt himself.

"I'm guessing you've enjoyed your expedition?"

"Sure have!" Danny smiled, a bit of blush creeping onto his face.

"Go ahead, take a seat. Most of us are already here..." Freddy nodded at us, going to sit down at one of the circular tables in the room.

And at that moment, George walked in.

"...Uh...    Enjoyed your race?"

"Extremely." I rolled my eyes playfully, getting myself up off the floor. After dusting myself off, I took a seat at the partially occupied table. Soon, everyone else started filling in, taking their own seats at the same place.

"So. What did we find?" Richard asked.

"I guess I'll start." Emily stood up, "Me and my group found an IT room with a backroom. Most of the computers there work. Peppa's group was also there, right?"

"Mhm." I nodded, "As for us, we found a library. Kylie's group was with us there."

"Yep!" Wendy smiled, "While we were there, we also found this photo..." She reached into her jacket pocket, fumbling around a bit, before pulling her paw out. "Aw bother."

"What is it?"

"...I didn't take the photo with me." She sighed, putting her head down.

"It's fine. It's not like it's gonna disappear!" Rebecca smiled.

"Yeah... You've got a good point." She nodded.

"Well... My group found a storage room... Kylie's group also found it after us." Pedro told us.

"Anything else?"

"Well... We also found this staircase." I perked up, "But it was closed off. We can't go up it unless something happens... Monopotato said so."

"Wh-What?" Kylie jumped, "He told you in person?"

"Yep. I don't really understand... Besides that, we also found a nurses office. Nothing else." I sighed.

"Uhm... Everyone? What about this room?" Delphine asked, showing everyone her handbook. She was pointing at a room next to the IT room. The only thing that was on it was a small hammer of some kind.

"...I don't know..." Candy said after a long period of silence, "We never considered checking it..."

"Hm... Maybe it's best if we don't question that for now." Freddy nodded to himself, "Anything else?"

Silence ensured once again.

"...Very well. I guess this meeting is over. Good search everyone!" The fox smiled, standing up and leaving the table. Soon, many others began doing the same.

I just started thinking to myself.

Considering that we've discovered these new rooms, it would be a good idea if we interacted a bit within them...

...I guess I have some free time.

____________________

(Free time events are now up for requesting! Here is how to request:

Type up to 3 of the currently alive participants' names in the comments section of this chapter. The 3 characters that get the most mentions will have an FTE about them in the next chapter.

Happy requesting!

~P-22/Oak-44)