CHOSEN ANSWER: Notes left behind

"I just realised something," I started with a worried tone. "All the times that Queen, Fyrus and Daniel died, a note was left behind, and this note was seemingly written by our host, or hosts. I just saw one back there in the dining room, though this time, it was in a bottle,"

Agent 4's eyes sparkled in realization. "Huh, really? I don't remember seeing one..."

"I do," JayMoji stepped forward, literally, as he looked down at my seated position. "I think it appeared after the lights came back on, 'cause I definitely did not see it when Daniel was still alive. The last times we got the notes from Queen and Fyrus, they gave us some kind of hint. Maybe it's the same thing here?"

My head turned back to the hallway leading to the dining room. "Only one way to find out," I declared as I stood up, making eye contact with everyone in the room. Agent 4 soon followed me in pursuit. "Everyone, I know you're tired, so please stay here while I head back to check on the crime scene. And... be sure to stay far away from Fyrus and Queen's places, too,"

"You don't have to tell me twice," Sagaci sighed, still a bit shocked over her near-death experience.

"I'm going with you," JayMoji proclaimed without a moment of hesitation.

"Are you sure?" Agent 3 approached with a cautious frown.

"Queen and Fyrus, I've lost both of them already today," JayMoji spoke softly. "At the very least, I want to find out why and how to save all the friends that I have left,"

"Agreed, JayMoji," I nodded with a warm smile. "It's fine, Agent 3. We'll keep him safe. You just keep an eye on everyone else, okay?"

"Roger," She replied.

*JayMoji will remember this.

~~~~~

As we stepped back into the cool-coloured room, I walked back to where Daniel fell into the crevasse in the ground. The ground was closed up still, but there was clearly a shade difference between the carpets on the two areas. Given that the ground had a honey brown carpet, it could have easily blended in with the warm, orangy lighting that occupied the room mere moments before. Now in the light of blue hues, it was an obvious mismatch.

"We're really not safe here," I remarked in concerned as I turned to JayMoji, who appeared to have the same kind of revelation that I just did.

Beside me, Agent 4 frowned worriedly as she deduced a chilling fact. "These carpets... Honestly, anyone could have been sitting in that chair and they'd still..."

"Wait a minute, you just reminded me of something," The ponytailed octoling looked up as he considered his train of thought. "Now that I think back to it, wasn't Queen trying to tell us something about an event that happened before she came here?"

As memories flooded in my mind, I found myself able to piece the information together slowly. "You're right, she was going to talk about something that was supposedly related to our host... I have a hunch that she was supposed to tell us about her stalker,"

"A stalker? What?" He tilted his head at me as I relayed what Sagaci had told me a few minutes ago about Queen supposedly being stalked in Inkopolis Square before she got her invitation. His response was like any other; freaked out and very suspicious.

"Then that settles it then," He continued. "Queen was about to say something important, then she was killed. Daniel was about to say something too, and then he got caught as well,"

"But Fyrus didn't say anything, did he?" Agent 4 inquired to which she received shaking heads from the both of us as an answer. That only meant that the typical 'shut-your-mouth-by-killing-you' method was not the reason why our friends had died.

"That kind of puts us back though," I noted. "Because now, we can't be sure that whatever Daniel said was right or wrong either,"

"Didn't Queen's note make it clear that we were being watched, too?" Jay suggested. "It commented on how Agent 3 was clever enough to know that neither Vian or GG were killers, so maybe it's happening again?"

As I stared at the ground, I only took cautious steps towards the now ominously cold bottle sitting on the carpet, uncapping it to retrieve the curled up note inside. Beside me was Agent 4 and JayMoji who were sharing the same reaction as mine as the note revealed another, largely-scaled text.

"FailBoat was WRONG."

As Agent 4 and I gasped, JayMoji could only sigh in exasperation. "Alright, so we really have confirmed two things; one, our assassins are hiding in this damn house and watching and listening to our every move; and two, we know that Daniel's theory is... wrong,"

"You know, half of me wants to not believe in this messed-up stuff," Agent 4 confessed, a hand placed on her forehead. "But given at how insane things have been tonight, I'll take whatever at this point,"

"Okay okay okay, let's just evaluate what we've got so far," I took a deep breath as the events of tonight replayed in my head...

~ Mini Checkpoint ~

(What, you thought that the agents were the only ones trying to figure out this mystery? A mini checkpoint will appear throughout the remaining chapters to remind YOU of what the gang have discovered so far. If you're sharp enough, your new discoveries can help you make better choices.. Think carefully.)

There is more than one host and they seem to be scheming some way to reclaim a 'lost victory'

The hosts are capable of listening to everything that the splatubers and agents speak about. It is also hauntingly possible that they can see every room as well.

Queen and FailBoat were both about to say something (possibly) regarding to their hosts before they died; Queen was likely going to relay a story about her stalker while FailBoat was continuing his subscriber count theory.

However, given the note that 8 has received, saying that FailBoat's theory was wrong while Queen's stalker-story was likely to be true (since Etce experienced it as well), it does not prove as a reliable lead. Furthermore, Fyrus was NOT about to say anything when he died.

Every time someone gets murdered, a note is left behind. So far, it has been giving the gang hints of their progress towards uncovering the truth, albeit they do not look promising.

If the killers are not going by subscriber count, then what kind of order ARE they going by? Is there something that the agents and splatubers are missing...?

"That sounds like a lot already," Agent 4 pouted, crossing her arms in frustration. "It feels like every time we get one step closer to the truth, we take two steps back,"

"Yeah, we're getting nowhere with all this right now," The purple octoling agreed with a frown. "Honestly, I can understand how Etce is feeling so frustrated. If we really have to wait until dawn for us to get out of here, then I'd rather not do anything at all,"

What he said made sense. Before I could add on, however, the door of the dining room flung open as three figures walked into the room, startling us until we recognise their faces. It was only Skul, Sagaci and Callie.

"GOOD GOD, don't scare us like that, man!" Unlike Agent 4 and I, JayMoji did not take their sudden entrance too well, staggering against the dinner table as he took in sharp breaths. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!"

"Sorry, Jay," Skul apologized with a pat on his shoulder that JayMoji accepts. Meanwhile, Sagaci approached us with crossed arms as she relays some pretty important notices. "Everyone has moved into the Picture Room, given that the living room had two deaths already and we did NOT want to take any chances. Skul, Sagaci and I came over to tell you three,"

"I see," Agent 4 nodded with gratitude. "Thanks Sagaci. I hope you're feeling better now?"

Her smile was wide as she accepted it. "Yeah, I definitely am. Thank you guys for saving me, by the way," She returned the thanks as Agent 4 accepted it eagerly with another one of her cheery smiles. "Did you guys find anything yet?"

"Only a confirmation that Daniel's theory was wrong," I replied as I passed the ominous note to the trio, who exhibited the same amount of shock as we had moments ago.

*Recall: You chose to not support Skul when discussing about how Daniel's theory could be wrong.

"So that means that I was right then," The orange inkling pointed out in frustration, staring at me. "I told you guys that something was up but did any of you listen? Nooo-"

"Skul, we couldn't have known that Daniel was wrong," Sagaci cut him off, attempting to defend me. "And we don't have enough time or energy to boast about it,"

"Sagaci's right. We know what we know, so let's just go with it, alright?" I added on determinedly, refusing to answer to anything else that Skul said.

*Skul will remember this.

Unfortunately, the mood of the conversation turned from bad to worse as Callie spoke. "The other thing is, there's something else that we wanted to talk to you about, something that is pretty important and could be pretty useful too,"

"Wait, 'we'? 'We' who?" JayMoji asked first, developing a slightly defensive stance.

"Skul and myself," The pink inkling replied. "We want to tell you about something that seems to be very closely related to the people who have died so far,"

Hold the telephone. They want to talk about the killer? My mind immediately went back to a crucial hint that we had just reviewed earlier; how the killers were listening to us everywhere.

"Uh, guys?" I attempted to stop them before they attracted our enemies' attention. "Maybe you want to hold that thought off until we're in a somewhat safer place-?"

"What, why? Shouldn't we just say it right now?" Callie reasoned, giving me a very weird look.

"Yeah, I get that but-"

"Oh, so now you don't even want to believe anything that other people say?" Skul took up a rather aggressive tone as his green eyes stared daggers at me. "I mean, I get it if you don't want to listen to me since I'm apparently not always right, but really? You want to stop us from talking now?"

Thump... Thump... Thump...

"That is NOT what I mean, Skul," I declared, my voice also taking up a defensive tone. "Like Sagaci said, I couldn't have known that FailBoat was wrong that you were right. I had no clue, none of us did. And you bringing it up like this, is kind of annoying me-"

*Recall: In Chapter 1, Agent 3 screaming 'get a hold of yourselves' made Skul frustrated at her impatience.

"Annoying you? You know what annoyed me? How your friend Agent 3 decided that it was SO much better to silence us all with some crude words!" Skul retaliated indignantly, his eyes now flaring with anger. "You know, I thought you'd be better at respecting us than your friend, but I guess that's not the case, huh-?!"

"HEY! Leave 3 OUT OF THIS!" Agent 4 clenched her fists at the attacking splatuber, an irritated expression all over her face.

Thump... Thump... Thump...

"Guys, let's not fight, come on!" Sagaci attempted to separate Skul and I from our stare-off as Callie continued. "We don't have time for this, we just need to tell them what we know and-"

"NO! I'm telling you, we can't say it here!" I urged her to not continue before Skul grabbed me by the collar of my vest. "And what makes you so unwilling to hear the answer, huh?! Maybe you don't want to hear things that could potentially help you, maybe you just want to come out of this looking like a hero!"

"SKUL! That's enough! Stop it RIGHT NOW!" Sagaci crossed her arms fiercely, though the image was blurry as a sudden wave of memories hit me like a truck.

"Maybe you don't want help, don't you octoling scum?"

"Maybe you just wanted to save those 'precious friends' and look like a hero!"

"Can't you see how useless you are right now?"

"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT UP!" I screamed without warning, tears flowing down my cheeks.

"I DON'T WANT TO HEAR YOU ANYMORE!!"

*click!*

"The hell!?"

"Not the lights again!"

"Hold on, has anyone seen Ja-"

"WHAT THE FREAK?!?! GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF ME!!"

"ARGH-! Who are these guys?!"

"Let go for me RIGHT NOW!"

"8? 8, where are you?!"

~~~~~

... Ow. My head hurts like hell. I can't tell how much time has past as my eyes open in the presence of bright light glaring at my face, waking me up in the worst, gruffiest way possible. I near swipe my hand at the light source before I hear a familiar voice: "Agent 8? Are you okay?"

As my field of vision became more focused, I could make out the figures of Agent 3 and Agent 4 both appearing gravely anxious. However, as soon as I let out a small grunt at the pain in my forehead, they both expelled a huge sigh of relief, with Agent 4 even hugging me tightly. "Holy cod, please don't ever pass out like that again, 8! You freaked us out!"

"What?" was all I could say as I scanned my surroundings. I am back in the Picture Room again and the remaining splatubers all look relieved as I regained consciousness. However, even in my half-asleep state, I could easily spot something amiss. Where was JayMoji?

Somehow, as if he had read my mind, Viantastic stepped forward, his face now bearing a sorrowful look. "Agent 8, what you're thinking right now..." He began as he held an item in front of me. "It has happened again,"

It isn't long before I recognise the item in Viantastic's hands; a pair of black thick-rimmed glasses. JayMoji's glasses. No... another?! A simple glance at his picture in the room was enough proof; the 'X' marked death.

You've got to be kidding me, WHY?! I was so speechless that I could only utter two words. "What happened?"

Agent 4 patted my back comfortingly. "It's not your fault," She reassured me as she continued to explain. "When the lights went out, I heard a bat swinging by hitting something followed by a thump on the floor. After that, there was that same mechanical sound again but this time, there was no screaming or anything. Soon after, Skul and Callie were caught by some... people before their voices left the dining room altogether and when the lights came back on, Sagaci and I were unharmed but you were out cold,"

"We experienced the same blackout as you guys did, by the way," Agent 3 chimed in. "When our lights came back on, we found out that JayMoji's portrait had been crossed out and sensing the worst, Viantastic volunteered to check the dining room. He and Agent 4 brought you back here to the Picture Room while Sagaci and I went to investigate the dining room again. The only thing we found this time was Jay's glasses, though,"

"That completely breaks the trend we've seen so far-!" I yelled exasperatedly, flopping my hands on my knees. Right when I thought that the notes left behind were somehow connected to our killer, I was proven wrong yet again with JayMoji's death.

Agent 4 was right; every time we move forward, we always ended up moving back two steps. Though I had not feel intense hatred for that pattern thus far, I sure was feeling it now.

"That's not important, though," Agent 3's voice brought me back to reality. "Right now, Skul and Callie are both missing and we have no clue or hint of where they could be in this clubhouse,"

"There are a lot of rooms here that I checked out when I came here," Etcesona explained. "In fact, there were a bunch of bedrooms and empty rooms here, but I doubt that they could be there, could they?"

"I'm pretty sure that if captors were involved here, they wouldn't leave the two of them on beds," Sagaci remarked snarkily before proposing another idea. "What about any other functional rooms?"

As the conversation continued, I felt the urge to step out before I get another headache. Thankfully, everyone was busy theorizing on where Skul and Callie were at, so I could easily slip out of the open door of the Picture Room, leaning on the wall beside it to heave a heavy sigh.

Well, almost everyone. Just when I thought I'd be the only one, Agent 3 stepped out of the room as well, leaning on the wall on the other side of the entrance, crossing her arms. She doesn't waste a minute in asking the obvious question. "You're not really feeling alright, are you?"

As Agent 4 would say, leave it to Agent 3 to realise that something is amiss. I sighed again. "Yeah, I... not really,"

"You know, 4 told me that you were screaming when Skul tried to verbally interrogate you," She mentioned the incident at the dining room in a matter-of-fact tone. "Are you... did you experience some flashbacks or something again?"

Of course Agent 3 would assume that. Only she and Agent 4 knew. "I-"

"HELP!! SOMEONE OUT THERE!! HELP!!!"

Our conversation is cut off by the sound of screams reverberating across the hallways, catching our attention immediately. Soon, Agent 4 appears at the entrance of the Picture Room as well, everyone having heard the screams of help that had came by seconds prior.

"What was that?" Agent 4 asked, her eyebrows furrowed.

"It sounded like it's coming close to the dining room," Etcesona noted, pointing to the door leading to the place. Though as I turned my head to point my ears in that direction, the screams sounded much fainter than I had hoped them to be.

"Guys, how about you all stay in the Picture Room while we check it out?" Agent 3 proposed of which no one opposes this time. I don't know if it is because they are too tired or they are too worried to venture beyond that room, but I decide to not bother about the answer.

"Be careful!" GG called out to us as we ran to where I think the sound is coming from, a room beside the dining room which appeared like a pantry... except for a large partition in the middle of the room, cutting out half of it completely. Now that's where our screams were coming from.

And a few seconds of hearing them, I could recognize their voices; it was Skul and Callie!

"Skul? Callie?" I called out for the two inklings, hoping that the partition was not soundproof. Thankfully, it wasn't and they soon responded to my call. "Agent 8? Is that you?" Callie asked from my left side.

"She's not alone too," Agent 4 added. "All of us are here, what happened to you guys?"

Skul spoke first, his voice coming from my right side. "Back at the dining room, when the lights went out, some people grabbed us and stashed us here! We don't even know where we are in this goddamn house!"

"We need your help though!" Callie interjected, a pleading tone in her voice. "There's a glass wall between us and there's water flowing into a tank for both our rooms. If we can't get our doors opened, that tank's gonna drop over and we'll be in literal hot soup!"

"And we can't open them from the inside out!" Skul added. "I've tried and it does NOT work at all! You gotta help us, you guys!!"

Before a moment's hesitation, Agent 3 and 4 scrambled into action, each grabbing the handle of both doors. Despite them both yanking as hard as they could at the handles, alone they could not open the doors.

That meant that I had to help. But the situation immediately puts me into a frenzy. I had a bad gut feeling that the tank Callie was talking about was already half-full, based on the soft but slightly audible sound of gushing water that I manage to catch. That meant that I could only help one... or the other.

As Skul, Callie and even my agent friends shout at me to make a decision, I struggle to make the final judgement. This will surely be blood on my hands.

"Who should I save?"

~~~~

~ A DECISION TO MAKE ~

(Underlined and bold indicates the final answer determined by my Twitter poll)

Save Callie

Save Skul