The trip upstairs with Pedro to the second, wooden floor was understandably eerie. Even though there was the sound of footsteps to accompany us, there was still a silent, shadowed feeling to the situation we were in.

...What could Monopotato want from us this time?

Is it...     Another motive?

...Who knows.

Either way, there's no real way to prepare myself. Or anyone else remaining.

Eventually, after a turn to the left and a stop in front of a tall pair of doors, also with the signature varnished wood theme of the second floor, Pedro spoke up.

"These are the doors to the gymnasium...         You haven't seen the gym yet, have you?"

"No, no I haven't..."

"This should be a bit unfamiliar with you, then." The pony replied, a certain tone in his voice. However, that tone seemed a bit...      Off. There definitely was something separating that tone from his normal tone of voice.

With a single thrust of Pedro's arms, the doors flew apart.

And 12 pairs of eyes fell upon us.

"Oh. They finally arrived."

"About time..."

"Edmond, I was the last one here until now!"

"Oh. Excuse me."

"Well, either way..." Pedro smiled, walking into the pale room. He suddenly halted, before punching the air below his right hoof.

"...Dammit. I'm late once again."

"...Yep." Danny nodded, a smug yet respectful look aiming at Pedro.

"Well, I'm also late! Pretty uncharacteristic of me, unlike Pedro, but we just got caught up in some...       Relational issues."

"...Yeah."

"Hmm...     Something interesting going on between you two?" Danny asked us, his smile getting wider by the second.

"W-What?!" A shout could be heard from Zoë.

"No Danny...   'oh something interesting going on between you two like make-out sessions right in front of Monopotato?' No Danny, that's wrong!" Pedro facepalmed, walking past him. I ignored the shocked feelings of the brown-furred dog, and took into account...    The surprisingly bland nature of the gymnasium. There wasn't much special about it: It was just your average gym in your average primary school.

"I didn't see any making out before this. And if I had, I'd would've probably screamed."

"What is your scream like?"

"SILENCE! It is time for me to present...      YOUR SECOND MOTIVE!!!"

...

...Shit.

It is another motive.

"...Second motive?" Emily cocked her head to the left, "What could you be planning...? Phone calls aren't going to entice any of us..."

"..." I noticed Kylie staring at the floor out of the corner of my eye.

"Yeah, the phone call could only really lure Delphine into playing the game. That is why...     I'm deciding to share a little bit of information with you all."

"...Huh?" Rebecca took a step back.

"What kind of information?" Edmond questioned, almost immediately after Rebecca's step away.

"Simply put it...       Someone here isn't who they seem."

"What?"

"Someone here is betraying you at this very moment. Someone in this very room is working with me to help bring despair upon you all, and has been working with me ever since the killing game started! This one person is hidden among you final 13...      THEY ARE THE TRAITOR LURKING IN THE SHADOWS!"

"..."

...

......

............

...Is that true?

Is one of us here...     Really working with Monopotato?

Did they really betray us?

...

...Was Pedro right?

"...I KNEW IT!"

At that moment, the pony leapt into the air, pumping his fists in some kind of forced relief.

"THERE! Solid proof of a traitor! How about it, 'eh?"

"..."

"..."

"...What the HELL, PEDRO?!"

"G-God!- Sorry Zoë..."

"...Well. This is great!" Monopotato smiled, shooting his hands upwards, "THERE'S ALREADY DISTRUST IN THE AIR!"

"Q-Quiet..." Freddy scoffed, holding his arms to himself.

"I CANNOT STAY QUIET! THE FEELING IS TOO AMAZING! SEEING THE FORMER ULTIMATE FRIENDSHIP CIRCLE START TO GET DISEASED BY UNTRUSTWORTHYNESS AND EGOISM! THE POSSIBLE DESPAIR IS SO BEAUTIFUL! I CAN BARELY HAND-"

"Get a hold of yourself." Richard spat.

"Right. Sorry." The potato soon calmed down, sitting down on the floor. It didn't take long for him to stand up again, though. The moment that he got back onto his feet, the unfortunate sounds of clicking sounded from underneath our feet.

"As you might know, this traitor is working for me. And therefore, they're gonna be quite a nightmare to try and kill. And thus, I have an offer for you all!" The half-blackened potato grinned, before continuing. "If you are able to identify the traitor and assassinate them for the rest of your fellow friends, then you'll be able to escape this building without the need for a trial! Of course, there's no way of knowing who the traitor is, but the prize is still there!"

"...Really?" Candy stared at the figure, "Isn't that just you indeliberately throwing your spy amongst us under the bus?"

"In a way...     Yes. They weren't that much help, anyway."

"That's rude..." George sighed, rubbing his temples as smoothly as he could.

"AND! And and..." The potato continued, as the clicking got louder, "Because I know that you're all so outnumbered in this scenario...    I'll be giving you a little aid in your quest to find the imposter among you!"

"What...? What 'aid'?!" Rebecca half-shouted.

"Oh, I'm not sure. Some specialised weapons, I guess."

At that moment, the floor beneath us opened up, with thirteen holes around the size of an average desktop in front of all of us. With a surprising efficiency, thirteen long, black duralumin cases jumped out of the holes, landing back on the floor just as it filled itself back in.

"Please may everyone find the case with their name on it."

In a slow, unorganised manner, everyone trotted forward to the cases, eventually finding one with their name on it. The same was for me. On my case, some kind of post-it-note with the name "Peppa" jotted in sploshy, black ink letters informed me of it now being mine. I grabbed a hold of the handle, lifted it up, and took a few steps away from Monopotato.

"Now then, feel free to open your cases!"

Two snaps were heard from my side, as Pedro instantly started opening his case. He pushed the lid upwards with one hand, letting it fall to the ground as he reached his other hand to...    Something in the case.

"...What the..."

The pony then lifted the confusing artefact for us all to see.

It was...      A wooden sword.

"...You call this a weapon?"

"Yes! It's a very reliable weapon." Monopotato scoffed, glancing away.

From that one wooden sword, inspiration and curiosity hooked onto the other people in the room, who started opening their own cases.

"Damn...      I mean, it's not like I'm not interested..." Zoë sighed, holding up a dome with a blade on it, the blade bearing the thickness of a wire.

"I'm not interested! I am definitely NOT INTERESTED!" Kylie shouted, holding up what appeared to be a circular buzzsaw.

"..." Danny's face had gone blank of colour, as he stared at an axe in his arms, most of the blade traditionally painted red.

"Uhm...       At least it's tame- AYO WAIT WHAT THE FU-"

The dog had dropped the axe out of surprise, his sight resting upon Edmond, who was holding what seemed to be a...       Flamethrower.

Edmond's face was just as shocked as everyone else's.

"Ngh!-"

"Huh?-"

A groan sounded from the opposite side of the room, followed by a thud on the ground. I turned my head over, seeing Suzy holding onto the end of some kind of stick with both hands. She must've noticed me looking, because once she glanced up, she smiled, before speaking.

"I-I'm good. It's just that this...     Hammer is really...     Heavy..."

...

It was only now that I realised that my case was still unopened. 

The obvious option would be to open it.

And yet...    Something in me resisted. Something told me that it might be a trap.

Either way, it was gonna be something that changed my tone, so might as well get it over with.

I flipped open the locks on the case and yanked the lid away, letting it slam onto the rubber-like floor. My eyes had locked themselves out of fright, terrified of what could be inside.

It was quiet.

No sounds could be heard.

One conclusion came to my mind.

There hadn't been a trap inside.

Slowly, my eyelids lifted up again, letting me lay eyes upon the item inside my duralumin case.

"..."

...It was a baseball bat.

Brand new, made of varnished wood, fabric around the handle for comfort.

"..."

I didn't know what to say or what to think.

"Uhm...     Mr. Monopotato?"

"Hm? Yes, Mr. Fox?"

All eyes turned to the orange animal in the checkered shirt. His speech had suddenly weakened, and anxiety had grasped a hold of him.

Either way, he was still able to inform the figure of his concerns.

"...My case is empty."

____________________