Kart's fantastical journey!

Return

"Sometimes I wonder if it would be better if we couldn't think ahead." mumbles Mujunii, staring at the snowy mountains of Ambermoor.
"Eh, what are you talking about? Us having the ability to think is a blessing." says Sid.
"Is it really?" asks Mujunii. "We think too much."
"..." Sid doesn't know how to respond.
"You see that vixen over there?" Mujunii points to a snow fox in the distance. "She doesn't have to worry about anything, because she can't think too far, we can."
Sid sighs, "Spit it out, what are you trying to say?"
"Well," Mujunii looks up at the foggy, dark blue sky. "We have the ability to question everything. Even the most asked one. Why do we live? Does our existence have meaning? What purpose brings life to this Universe? And what happens when we all die? Does a new life start somewhere else and everything restarts? I just don't understand, how did we even get created in the first place? If we come from nothing, then nothingness must still be something for it to become something."
"I-, uh...I lost you there..." Sid seems confused.
"It doesn't matter anyways, haha," Mujunii laughs it off. "The real question is, will we achieve something that can help life?"
"..." Sid pats Mujunii's shoulder. "Yes, we are still the beginning of humanity, so of course we'll achieve something that can help life. It will help the generations after us survive. Don't think too far, you should just think about the present. We are here, doing what we are doing, and that's it."
Mujunii smiles.
"Hey!" they hear a girl's voice getting louder. "What are you guys doing outside!? It's freezing!"
"Oh, hey Echo." Sid waves at her.
"Hi." Joe seems to have come too.
"Brrrr..." Floof is also here.
"Oh, well, we're not really doing anything, just sitting here, watching the snowflakes fall from the sky, haha." Mujunii laughs.
"Oh, really?" Tron seems conspicuous.
"SHIT!" Sid trips off the bench and lands in the snow. "Where did you come from!?"
"You're so clumsy it's embarrassing." Floof facepalms.
"Haha." Joe laughs.
"I teleported here." Tron crosses his arms. "Did you already forget?"
"Nah...just didn't expect it." Sid shoves the snow off his jacket with the help of Floof and Joe.
"Guys!" Johnny arrives panting. "D-did...the o...others arrive...yet?"
"Calm down! Take a deep breath!" Mujunii pats his shoulders.
"I can't, it's too cold!" mourns Johnny.
"I agree." Echo concurs. "I can barely feel my cheeks. I'll create a bubble around us."
"Don't forget to include us." murmurs Fault, who just arrived.
"Wait!" Matei huffs.
"She's not going to exclude you, don't worry." Zoom rolls his eyes.
"Great!" Floof cheers. "So everyone is here!"
"Everyone who is alive..." mumbles Johnny.
"..." Fault sighs.
"Form the bubble, please." Joe is freezing.
"Alright, alright." says Echo. "Stay near the bench."
Everyone stands next to the bench Mujunii and Sid are sitting on. Tron decides to sit on the bench's backrest.
The nine students patiently await Echo's performance.
Instantaneously, something starts glowing on the ground. A circular, greenish line gets conjured from the ground and drastically goes upwards and closes. A green see-through bubble was built around the ten students.
"Wow! Impressive, Echo!" cheers Zoom. "Your Nirvana power really does pay off! I feel warm already!"
"That's because you ran here, and don't forget the fact that you have the Agility power." Matei rolls his eyes this time.
"Phew," Echo wipes her forehead. "I'm exhausted. Using that spell wears off my Stamina by a lot."
"Well, thanks anyway." congratulates Mujunii.
"I felicitate you." says Sid happily.
"Do you guys think the others will make it back safely?" Johnny is worried.
"What if they never return?" asks Fault. "They never informed us that they'd leave. Perhaps they've been dead the day they disappeared."
"But didn't a few people go look for them?" asks Joe. "They also never returned."
"Isabella..." sighs Mujunii.
"Additionally," extracts Tron to the talk. "Professor Cat is also missing."
"Yeah, can't believe how another teacher of ours is gone..." mumbles Matei.
"Yeah, and the academy still hasn't hired any new teachers!" says Joe. "The biology professor Mr. Rae Justice has to teach us now since they have little faculty left."
"What if we really are cursed..?" asks Sid.
"No, no, no." Fault shakes her head. "We aren't. Headmaster Doodles was only messing with us."
"Then why would he bring up that story exactly then when Diva was brutally murdered, huh?" interrogates Sid. "Additionally, the same day, we find out Nerdy is not the innocent girl we thought she was. Later, she goes on a rampage, killing Audacious, Sweetie Luna and Professor Dirize, despite the fact that Knologos and Fifty somehow got shot by her gun and survived. I am telling you, something is wrong with our class."
"But when the psycho-nurse came, she injured and killed students from other classes, meaning all of us from Class 34 were unharmed." insists Fault.
"That's because the nurse might not have been related to the curse. Did anyone look inside Diva's obituary?" asks Sid around.
"I...I might have taken a look inside everyone's after their death, even your clone, Floof." Mujunii feels ashamed.
"..." Floof looks a bit upset.
"Are you okay?" Fault pats her back.
"Yeah...it's just...I never got to know my clone. I mean, she was rude and annoying, but still a person. She doesn't even have a name."
"We can give her one." Fault smiles. "We'll just have to update her name at the shrine."
"I can do that quickly after you decide." suggests Tron. "I can teleport there."
"It doesn't matter anymore, she's dead. A deceased person doesn't need a name." Floof sighs.
"That might be true, but what if there's an afterlife? Then she can use her name." Fault consoles Floof.
"Okay..." Floof gives in. "How about...Stellar? Since my surname is Lunatrack, similar to moon in Latin, I thought stellar, for star, might work well."
"Stellar it is." Tron smiles. "I'll update it quickly, be right back."
"Hold on, this is a safe bubble-" says Echo.
Tron tries to teleport, but he can't, "Hm?"
"You can't teleport away or into a safe bubble, it's a protection spell, so you'll have to wait until I uncast the spell." explains Echo.
"Shucks." Tron is sad.
"Stellar is a beautiful name by the way." says Fault.
"Thanks," Floof is a bit merrier. "At least she has a name now."
"What was her superpower by the way?" asks Echo.
"Transmigration, similar to Floof's." says Fault. "I remember interrogating her about it when she got created on accident. I was confused why she didn't have the exact same one as Floof."
"That stays a mystery." says Tron.
"Then why does Kart's clone Posa have Light and Kart Darkness as their powers? It's the complete opposite!" Johnny is stunned.
"Kart might not be an ordinary human being, we'll have to ask him later." says Fault. "If he returns."
"He will." says Matei. "I know it."
"Mujunii?" Sid spaced out. "What is the murder weapon used to kill Diva? Is it in his obituary?"
"If I recall correctly, he was stabbed with the Hollow Scimitar, his sword." answers Mujunii.
Sid is shocked, "Oh my god...my misgivings became reality..."
"What!?" Johnny is afraid. "What do you mean???"
"Now I'm curious." Zoom strokes his chin.
"Nerdy," Sid begins his conclusion. "Wasn't her weapon a laser gun? If she killed Diva, wouldn't his body have evaporated? Additionally, the Hollow Scimitar is a heavy sword. With Nerdy's physique, you couldn't hold something as gigantic as that. According to that, they were also close friends. Something here isn't right..."
"Lousy police investigation..." Joe rolls his eyes.
"Actually," Mujunii noticed something. "Didn't they tell us in the hallway that they found out who the culprit was but never told us because Nerdy appeared out of nowhere? Sid has a point. Especially the fact that the police would never endanger us by lining us up in the hallway, just to later get surprised by Nerdy. She must have known that they were about to find out the truth to Diva's death!"
"By the way..." mumbles Joe. "Didn't the newspaper also mention the fact that a woman went missing that same night Diva was murdered?"
"True!" Echo gasps. "I almost forgot about that!"
"The shocking truth about Diva being dead kind of made us forget the small details." declared Sid. "I have a feeling that Nerdy isn't the true killer of Diva. She was an accomplice."
"I still can't believe Nerdy actually turned out to be a killer though...I mean, she helped someone eliminate Diva and then killed Audacious, Sweetie Luna and Professor Dirize! I thought she was a normal girl!" says Johnny. "It's almost as if that wasn't the real Nerdy."
"Well," Fault starts thinking. "Her power is Apathy, the ability to change the way of someone's thinking, or to add fake memories into their head, perhaps she accidentally did that to herself..? Oh crap, I don't know anymore."
"Hold on," Tron is shocked. "She can change memories?"
"Yeah." Fault nods.
"In that case," Tron has something to confess. "Not to sound like a creep, but, the day at the rampage in school, when Ms. Cat was having a conversation with the two nurses and us having received a break, I was bored and decided to eavesdrop Kart's group. They seemed to have had a special conversation, so I was curious and listened."
Tron gulps and then continues talking, "That day, Sunny said she had a sudden stroke a bit earlier. When she lost consciousness, she saw a vision of Diva walking past Nerdy and Knologos. They were having a conversation about something weird. And after they spotted Diva, Nerdy chased him. Knologos was mad and closed the door."
"Wait, I remember when she got that stroke! I was with her and the others when it happened." gasps Joe.
"Me too." mumbles Matei.
"Yeah, but," Tron continues. "It must have been her tricking Sunny's mind, because Nerdy never killed Diva. Now that I have concluded that, I wonder if Knologos has anything to do with the case. I mean, it's a false memory by Nerdy, but perhaps she was trying to hint Sunny onto something?"
"Wait," Fault facepalms. "Everything fits perfectly into the piece."
"Did you find something out?" asks Johnny.
"Remember when we had the mission in the warehouse with the others? I recall Diva, Nerdy, and Knologos not being in the restaurant when we came back from the mission to heal Kart. Isn't that suspicious? Why were those three missing exactly a day before Diva's death?"
"I-" Floof is jumbled from all this information. "I'm perplexed!"
"Not surprised." teases Zoom.
"Hey, I heard that!" Floof frowns.
"So," Mujunii summarises everything up. "Diva was actually killed by Knologos, and Nerdy only helped, trying to make us think that she was the murderer after she shot Knologos, who miraculously returned with Fifty...hey, it all makes sense!"
"That's what I said..." mutters Fault.
Mujunii continues talking, "Nerdy and Knologos worked together. They made a pact together and created a plan that would start with Diva as the first victim. Then, afterwards, they created false evidence to make us think Nerdy killed him, and then, Nerdy would go berserk, trying to kill everyone in the neighbourhood. She first shot Knologos, who then died. Which, he obviously did not, because he returned."
"But why?" questions Echo. "The plan would mean Nerdy's demise. She agreed with something that would take her life? That's too insane to believe..."
"That's what they want us to think." said Sid. "But we figured them out. Knologos probably needed all the suspicion to go on Nerdy so he can do whatever he still needs to do."
"Well," Johnny joins the discussion. "When Knologos and Fifty returned, they told us they were participating in a death game. So does that mean Nerdy's gun was just a teleporter?"
"I think Fifty wasn't even supposed to survive." assumes Floof.
"No, you're wrong." objects Fault. "If Knologos were to be the only one to come back, wouldn't that be suspicious?"
"True..." mumbles Floof. "What are we going to do when they actually do return? Do we report this to the police? I mean, we don't really have any concrete proof though."
"This is harder than I thought..." mumbles Fault.
"It also sucks how all the witnesses are either dead or gone missing." adds Zoom. "God isn't on our side this time, is he?"
"Uh, guys?" Mia's voice is resounding because of the green safe bubble.
"Mia?" Echo is startled.
"What is this green bubble??" Mia is banging against it.
"Oh, sorry about that." Echo closes her eyes and the bubble pops.
"EEK!" Floof gets scared and lands in Fault's arms.
"You're...heavy!" Fault and Floof fall into the snow.
"Brrr..." Zoom is stuttering. "Without the bubble it's freezing!"
"Told you." Johnny rolls his eyes.
"Oh, hi Mia!" Tron waves at Mia. "Well, since the bubble is gone, I'll update Stellar Lunatrack's grave!"
Tron teleports to the graveyard to update the grave of Floof's clone.
"Where are the others?!" asks Echo.
"Are Max and Rain okay!?" shouts Johnny.
"Where is my Isabella!?" Mujunii grabs Mia's arms.
"Woah, woah!" Mia is kinda startled by this sudden surprise. "Did you miss us so badly?"
"YOU LITERALLY DISAPPEARED WITHOUT EVEN SAYING ANYTHING!!!" screams Johnny.
"Yeah, what if you would have died!?" shouts Mujunii. "Wait, don't tell me you're the only one who..."
"What are you talking about? The others are literally right behind me." Mia points to the others.
Behind her are Isabella, Leonie, Rain, Sweet and Cookie.
Johnny's eyes widen, "Rain!!"
"J-Johnny..!" Rain runs up to him.
They hug and cry.
"Isabella!" Mujunii runs up to Isabella and lifts her up.
"GENTLE, PLEASE!" Isabella cries out for help.
"Mujunii," Sid rolls his eyes. "Is this how you treat your girlfriend?"
"Oh, right, I'm sorry, Isa." Mujunii feels bad.
"Don't be, I'm just so happy to see you again." Isabella leaps into his arms. "I won't leave you again, I promise."
"Neither will I." smiles Mujunii.
Sid sighs out of relief, "A good ending for you two."
"Sweet, where are the others?" asks Zoom. "And who is this hot babe?"
He points at Leonie.
"Uh..." Sweet tries holding in her laughter. "That's Leonie. Her curse was lifted."
"WHAT!?" Zoom stumbles out of surprise.
"Thank you for the compliment, I guess." Leonie forces a fake smile on her face and heads into the core of Ambermoor.
"She seems pretty upset, why? Shouldn't she be happy that her curse is gone now?" asks Fault with Floof standing next to her.
"Well...a lot happened." Sweet seems a bit sad.
"Cookie?" Fault walks up to her. "How are you?"
"..." Cookie doesn't say anything.
"It's okay." Fault pets her head.
"No, it isn't." Cookie cries. "It's all my fault...Posa got killed by my awful sister...I was too late."
"P-Posa died...?" Fault is in shock
"Fuck..." Floof covers her mouth. "He was so innocent...He only wanted to travel the world...Clones don't deserve this mistreatment."
"My sister was a good person, but she changed. She started killing people, and now I left her all alone. What if she continues killing? What if she didn't mean to? How is she going to cope all alone? Candy was a victim of domestic abuse after all...she probably didn't mean to-"
"Cookie." Fault holds Cookie's head in her arms. "Calm down. It's over now. What matters is that you're here. Go get some rest. We can talk more tomorrow."
"Yeah, get some shut-eye, you need it." says Floof.
"I'm sorry for what you had to go through" says Echo.
"...Thanks." replies Cookie. "See you around..."
"I was so worried about you!" Johnny is relieved. "I thought something bad must have happened. Now, where is Max?"
"..." Rain is looking at the ground.
"Rain?" Johnny is shivering. "W-where is Max..?"
"..." Rain's eyes start tearing up. "M-Max....he's..."
Johnny's eyes are filled with terror.
Rain started crying again, "Max is dead, Johnny. He didn't make it."
"N-no..." Johnny's whole body quails. "T-that can't be..."
"..." Rain is crying.
"..." Johnny lets go of Rain and walks away.
"H-huh!?" Zoom is shocked. "Max is dead!?"
"Dagobert too, and if anyone knew a girl named Minetta from school. They both committed suicide." Sweet fills them all in.
"No way..." Echo is sobbing. "Dagobert too..?"
Sweet is trying her best to be strong for her friends, "Tokyo and Zach from the other class also passed away."
"..." Joe is speechless.
"..." Floof is looking at the ground.
"..." Fault is covering her face.
"..." Matei is staring at his hands. "And...Fifty?"
"Fi...fty," Sweet can't hold it in anymore and began crying. "He left us. Professor Cat did so too. They won't be coming back..."
"..." Matei sighs.
"K'lani too, if anyone knew her." adds Sweet who started crying badly.
Echo hugs Sweet, "I'm sorry."
"Hi, guys!" Tron teleported back. "I fixed the sign on Stellar Lunatrack's grave-!"
He noticed everyone crying and stayed silent, instantly feeling bad.
"T-thank you, Tron." says Floof, blowing into a handkerchief.
"..." Tron nods.
"Um..." Joe raises his finger a bit. "W-where are Kart, Sunny and Knologos...? Did they-"
"Well," Mia decided to take over. "Karter...uh..I mean Kart...and Sunny headed back to Manora, their hometown. They want to keep on searching for their parents and their aunt. But this time they wanted to do it alone."
"Oh..." Joe nods. "And Knologos?"
"He said he had something to take care of, so he headed home right when we reached Ambermoor." murmurs Mia.
"Weird, we were sitting on the bench next to his house the whole time and didn't see anyone pass by..." mumbles Sid.
"Well," Mia shrugs. "I can confirm you that he made it back safely."
"Good," Mujunii clenched his fists. "There is something we have to ask him about."
"Huh?" Mia is confused. "Okay."

"Floof?" Fault looks at the stars. "Why do we have to suffer so much?"
"I don't know." she answers. "All I know is that this will all end soon...

...I promise."