"You aren't even the slightest bit scared that this could go poorly?"

"Nah. I'm lucky, remember?"

"You were lucky."

"We'll be fine. We came together so nothing bad will happen."

"...right."

There was a faint click that caught our attention. When we turned there was nothing there.

"Ugh... Do you smell that?"

"Yeah, it's awful."

A horrid stench filled my nose. Without any time to react, my vision quickly faded to black.

* * *

"Hey!" A faint voice called out to me.

My head pounded and my vision was blurry. The room's light was blinding, so I blocked it with my wrist.

"Ugh..." I groaned, my vision slowly clearing. "Where are we, sis?"

"You tell me." She shrugged, glancing around awkwardly. "It was your idea to go to go to the address on the creepy letter."

If it meant we could get them back, then we just had to go.

I took a look around the room my sister and I woke up in. My eyes adjusted to the light, as I took in the oddity that was this room. Or rather, this hallway.

We had woken up on the floor of a hallway.

"What's the last thing you remember?" I turned to my sister.

"The horrible smell once we went inside that old apartment building," She recalled. "You?"

"Same." I sighed.

"We should look around this place to try and figure out what's going on." I suggested.

"Good idea." My twin blindly agreed.

We ventured down the hallway, stumbling across multiple rooms. Each was labeled with a name plate. Two rooms were even labeled with our names, which made my sister make an uncomfortable expression on her face.

"There might be others here," I guessed.

"Do you think our arrival was planned?" My sister asked me. "Based on the rooms, it looks like whoever brought us here knew we were coming."

"Maybe we were brought here to keep that a secret," I hypothesized. "An old apartment isn't the most secure place to talk."

"I dunno," Her voice trailed off as she glanced around. "It makes more sense that we were kidnapped."

We travel down the hall, soon finding ourselves in a dining room. Thirteen others were gathered in there as if they were awaiting our arrival.

"W-Well?" A male in an oversized stumbled over his words. "There's 15 of us h-h-here now."

15? Are they all here for what we're here for?

"What?" I questioned, blinking a few times. "What's going on?"

"Blue haired chick said she'd tell us what's poppin' once all 15 fifteen of us got here." Explained a person various mesh articles of clothing.

"Speaking of her," A man wearing a visor looked around the dining room. "Where did she go?"

"She was just here," Recalled a tall, pick haired woman.

The room begin fill with everyone's panicked questions and pointless chatter. My sister stayed close by my side, since conversing with strangers was not her thing.

What is going on here?

"I don't like this," My sister whispered to me. She pulled her beanie down over her ears. "They're so loud and there are so many different conversations going on at once."

"It'll be alright," I whispered back, giving her a smile of assurance. "I'm sure they'll quiet down once this ''blue haired chick'' comes back."

I'd rather that will happen sooner than later.

As if on cue, a blue haired female stepped out of the kitchen. With her entrance came everyone else's silence. She had a tray of fresh cookies in hands and she wore a wide, yet disturbing smile on her face. Despite her having presumably baked cookies, the suit she wore was clean.

She sat the tray on the table, before pushing it into the middle of the table with one hand.

"Eat up before they get cold." Said she.

"Why did you take us here?" The man with the visor inquired.

"I couldn't have taken you here," The bluenette explained with her grin unchanging. "I'm just one person."

"She has a point," Someone quietly muttered.

"Could you explain what the gas was for?" The tall pinkette didn't waste time ask.

"I suppose I can't stall any longer." She shrugged, taking a seat at the end of the table. "Ya'll will want to be sitting down to hear this."

It must have to do with that and the letter. I'm sure of it.

Once everyone was seated and a few of us had gotten some cookies, the blue haired woman propped her elbows on the table. She then rested her chin on her hands, looking like she was about to say something exciting.

"All of you received the same letter and went to address on it," She elaborated. "Therefore, you've all shown interest in doing whatever it takes to get your talents back."

I will do whatever it takes to get it back.

"You've all be brought here to play a game in secret," She continued on with her explanation. "This game will determine which of you get your talents back."

A game? All I have to do is win a game and I get it back?

This is going to be easy.

"Weren't these procedures a little bit extreme just for us to play a game?" A male with icy blue hair asked.

"Considering that all you will be breaking the law to do this," The bluenette snickered. "Yes, this is completely necessary."

"When does this game thing start?" A blonde girl questioned. "What are we even playing?"

I hope it's something luck based. I always win those games.

There was no answer from the female bluenette. She simply reached for a cookie, her eyes looking at all of us the entire time.

"What are we playing?" I curiously reasked the question.

Again, there was no answer. She sat there. Waiting.

That's weir—

Two stuffed animal like creature popped out of the floor. A dog that was half navy blue and white. A cat that was half black and half light pink.

"A killing game!" The animals exclaimed.

What...?

"Holy shit, the stuffed animals talk!" The blonde girl screamed, nearly falling back in her chair.

"Ugh, don't tell we have to go through this ''gasp, you are a talking stuffed animal'' shit." The dog barked.

"They need some time to adjust to things," The cat told the dog. "They are just regular talentlesspeople after all. They need time to process even the simplest of things. Like robotic mascots such as ourselves."

"They better process us fast because we have exposition to dumb on them!" The dog growled back.

"How are you two talking?!" The blonde girl remained confused.

"They said they were robotic," Said the black haired person. "Maybe there's a voice box in them somewhere?"

"Everything they're saying seems planned out," Responded a person in a bulky fur coat.

"Perhaps their is an AI within these small robots," The pink haired woman in a trench coat laid out her theory. "That could explain their human-like patterns of speech and sense of emotion."

"The logistics of how we can talk doesn't matter!" The dog raised her voice, drawing the conversations focus back to the two robots. "What matters is that we can talk and we're telling you have to play our killing game to get your titles back!"

"Or, if killing isn't your thing, then you can live out the rest of your talentless lives here in this mansion," The cat calmly told us all. "The mansion is fully supplied, self sufficient, and stocked with entertainment so you'll love your stay here. No matter how long or short it becomes."

"What the hell?!" Yelled a brunette girl in a tracksuit. "What kind of sick joke is this? Stop fucking around and tell us how we can get our titles back."

I have a feeling this has gone past the point of being a sick joke...

"I assure you, we are not 'effeing around' with you," Pointed out the black and pink cat. "We are serious."

"What if we don't want our talents back?" A quiet voice asked. "Can we go home and not have to play your game?"

"Sorry, no can do!" The blue haired human answered the question. "We're already locked in. The way to leave is to kill someone else here and be retitled."

...

"Speaking of titles," The cat popped up. "If we're going to be proper hosts, we should give you ours. Starting with your fellow human participant!"

The female with short blue hair stood up. She took this opportunity to adjust her bowtie before putting on the wide smile she wore so well.

"Welcome to the killing game! I am your human host, and fellow participant, Nora!" She introduced herself. "You may recognize me the Ex Ultimate Gameshow Host."

Nora (She/Her)

Ex Ultimate Gameshow Host

She's an Ex Ultimate as well?

"I'm Tiger the Dog!" The blue and white dog told us all. "Your overseer of deadly life."

Tiger the Dog (She/It)

Overseer of Deadly Life

What the heck does that mean?

"And I'm Wolf the Cat." The black and pink cat told the group. "I'll be overseeing your day to day life here in the mansion."

Wolf the Cat (He/It)

Overseer of Daily Life

Day to day?

"Wait, can you go back to the killing game part–" Someone attempted to ask.

"We have these special devices called PetalPads for the purpose of this game." Nora held up a phone-like device with a flower petal design on the back. "It serves as a map, rulebook and a room key, so take care of them."

"You break it, you pay to replace it." Tiger said.

The two robotic animals began to distribute a PetalPad to everyone aside from Nora. She obviously already had one.

"I recommend reading the rules as well as checking out the map," The bluenette suggested. "You'll be here for a while, so might as well get used to the place."

"I have some questions for you about this game and who's behind it," The pink haired girl stated.

"The game is fake, right?" A person cyan hair looked to the former gameshow host. "Like, we're going to be playing a video game to kill each other?"

"Hehe," The gameshow host giggled. "You'll come to terms with things eventually. All of you will."

What's that supposed to mean?!

"Until then..." Nora's voice trailed off. "I recommend you all get to know each other, explore the place, and make yourselves at home."

Tiger and Wolf seemed to disappear in the floorboard, while Nora needed a smokebomb to get away. Once the smoke cleared, I glanced at the other 14 people who stood around. All of them Ex Ultimates like myself.

This whole killing game thing is ridiculous. No one is going to kill.

...even if we would supposedly get our talent back in doing so.