Chapter Text
Location:
The Backrooms
Group 1:
Bebe Rexha [Real Life]
Hitori Gotou [Bocchi the Rock!]
Jared Leto [Real Life]
Lebron James [Real Life]
Miss Piggy [The Muppets]
Alone.
It was a word most fitting for the situation at hand, and for Hitori Gotoh, it was one that she had grown all too accustomed to over the course of most of her life. She knew how to deal with this kind of loneliness; after all, she'd been dealing with it since before she could remember. It was only until recently that she joined a band and thus found and made some amazing friends. Friends who supported her and were always there when needed.
But whatever this place was, something about it felt different and eerie about its solitude. It was a different type of 'alone', one that felt more sinister than any other meaning or definition she'd ever experienced in her young life. Even as she walked through the empty corridors and rooms plastered with yellow wallpaper, she couldn't shake off the feeling. And it wasn't just because of the absence of people that gave her goosebumps on her arms. No, it was more like something else, an atmosphere that seemed to emanate from the very air itself—a feeling of something not right about this whole place.
The building's layout was odd, to say the very least. There were no windows, so she couldn't tell what time of the day it actually was. The only source of light provided were the buzzing fluorescent lights that attached to the ceiling. They looked old and worn out, but managed to provide enough illumination to walk without stumbling. The floor itself was fitted with damp carpeting, which added to the overall smell of decay. This combined with the strange erratic manner in which the rooms were laid out gave Hitori a distinct sense of dread, one that caused her stomach to twist into knots and her breath to catch up in her throat.
Needless to say, Hitori obviously didn't like this place. It was unpredictable like some sort of fever dream, and every minute she spent here she felt she was one step closer to losing it. Time. How long has she spent there? Hours, days perhaps? Her sense of time had completely escaped her, and she couldn't really know how much longer she could stand being in this place.
She never felt so lost.
She never felt so alone.
But yet, she felt she was being stalked by something dark and ominous, lurking in every corner she didn't approach.
And it scared her.
"Breathe Hitori, breathe," she told herself as she closed her eyes for a few seconds, "You can do this. You can escape."
Her blue eyes opened and she walked as she scanned each corridor carefully, looking for anything out of the ordinary that might provide a hint on how to escape this unsettling place. Her pink dishevelled hair bounced gently against her shoulders as she continued to walk forward, searching for an exit. But despite her keen senses and sharp intuition, nothing stood out as particularly helpful. Everything looked exactly the same as everything else: bare, yellow and devoid of furniture.
Several hours of wandering aimlessly without getting anywhere near finding any way to escape did little to ease her growing anxiety. And frankly Hitori was becoming increasingly desperate and frustrated, and began to sniff. Tears welled up in her eyes as she sobbed, her emotions overwhelming her. She missed her friends, her family, her dog terribly; not having any of them here to comfort her was unbearable. All she wanted was to see them again. To have someone hold her and tell her that everything will work out fine. That things will get better soon.
Hitori was still occupied crying quietly that she didn't hear the faint footsteps that crept behind her until she finally sensed an ever-looming presence. Slowly, she turned around and saw a figure appear in her line of view, his appearance reminiscent of a middle-aged man dressed in a white suit and red tie. He had long brown hair, and a neatly trimmed moustache and beard, giving him an overall distinguished look. Hitori rubbed her eyes to make sure she hadn't imagined seeing him, then quickly wiped away the tears that threatened to fall down her cheeks. She wasn't alone anymore.
He looked normal and human expectedly. And yet, something about the man bothered her. His almost too perfect smile, the way he held himself, his blue eyes staring at her so indifferently. All of these things combined, gave her a discomforting feeling that something was wrong, very wrong. Her heart pounded violently in her chest. Fear gripped her mind, making her legs tremble uncontrollably. She froze, unable to move, even though she desperately wished to flee.
It was at that moment that she realised how soulless those eyes were.
Without warning, he lunged towards her, his monotone expression not changing in the slightest.
She screamed and tried to run, but he was faster, reaching out and grabbing her arm. The grip was firm and strong, and although Hitori kicked and struggled to free herself, she couldn't break free. A chill ran up her spine as she realised what this meant. This was no human; this was something else entirely that fed upon fear and suffering. His mouth opened abnormally wide, revealing rows of razor teeth, ready to sink into her soft flesh.
The pain was excruciating. Hitori screamed in terror as she tried desperately to fight back, kicking and punching wildly. The creature's claws emerged from its hands, scratching her flesh through her pink tracksuit, staining it with blood. Tears streamed uncontrollably down her cheeks. It got harder and more painful to breathe as it continued relentlessly slashing, biting, clawing at her, not missing a beat. Hitori just wanted to die. For everything to just stop. She closed her eyes and braced for the final blow to hit her.
Then suddenly, she heard a gunshot. Then another.
Two bullets pierced the creature's head and torso, exploding outwards in a spray of gore. Its limbs flailed wildly, its blood splattering everywhere, coating her face and clothes. The beast fell backwards onto the floor, dead before it even hit. Its body twitched several times until finally the creature went still.
For a few seconds, Hitori didn't know which emotion dominated her feelings – relief, terror, confusion, or all three. She didn't care. She tried to stand, but couldn't seem to get enough air. Eventually, though, she managed to pull herself together somewhat. Shaking off the shock, Hitori pushed aside the remains of the creature lying beside her as her rescuers came into view, three of them to be exact. One was a tall, beautiful woman with slightly short, blonde hair. Another was a large, dark-skinned bearded man wearing a yellow basketball jersey. Hitori saw a gun clutched in his hand, a small, black handgun that she assumed was used to fend off the monster. The third was unlike the others in appearance; rather, she found herself staring at an anthropomorphic pig with blonde hair, mascara, wearing a white dress. Despite this, Hitori felt her gut telling her to trust all of them.
"T-than-thank you," said Hitori, trying to speak calmly and composed, although she wasn't quite succeeding. She glanced at the corpse lying nearby. There was no denying it now; this thing had been real. Not some hallucination.
The blonde-haired woman stepped forward, crouching down next to Hitori. Her long blonde hair swayed gently as she reached out to touch Hitori's hair, ruffling it gently. "You're going to be alright, sweetie," she said reassuringly. Her voice was surprisingly soothing and gentle, like the sound of flowing water, "I'm Bebe Rexha in case you're wondering. I'm good, are you feeling alright?"
Hitori nodded, swallowing hard against the lump in her throat. Her breaths came slightly easier now but remained shallow. Her body was shaking, and it was obvious she needed some time to recover. But despite these drawbacks, Hitori felt safe and calm for the first time since she'd arrived in this strange unpredictable place. The woman in front of her seemed sympathetic to her plight, and sat down next to one another. She patted Hitori's shoulder, smiling warmly, encouraging her to relax.
"I-I'm H-hi-hitori," her voice cracked, struggling to even speak. Bebe Rexha smiled, and acknowledged her name, as she continued to stroke her hair to calm her down.
"Take deep breaths, Hitori. You're going to be okay," Bebe instructed, before turning around and asking the others, "Hey Lebron and Miss Piggy, you reckon she's gonna make it?"
Upon the sound of his name being heard, the dark-skinned man bent down and looked at Hitori before he responded in a low voice, "Fuck, man. We definitely got there in the nick of time before that Jared Leto lookin' imposter got to her."
Lebron turned back to face her. He gave her a reassuring smile and placed a firm hand on her shoulder, "Do you think you can stand up?"
Hitori glanced up at Lebron's dark brown eyes, and considered the question briefly before nodding. With the help of Lebron, she pulled herself upright. She still felt a bit weak in her knees and practically everywhere else, but she could move, albeit very slowly if the pain in her stomach was anything to go by. Granted, it wasn't the ideal situation she wished for, but at least she was alive for now. And despite how terrifying this whole experience might have been so far, she realised that she wasn't alone anymore.
"You're such a drama queen!" Miss Piggy exclaimed, rolling her eyes, "You may have almost died but that doesn't mean you get to steal the spotlight from me!"
Bebe Rexha grumbled at her insensitive comments, "Just shut up please! We've been over this seven times. Not everything has to be about you or your looks, Piggy!"
"Like you would know anything about beauty," the pig shot back sarcastically. Bebe Rexha huffed loudly, as she tried hard to keep her composure.
And so, the four of them walked on slowly, unaware of how dangerous their journey to escape was about to become.
Survived (will proceed to Round 1B):
Hitori Gotou [Bocchi the Rock!]
Lebron James [Real Life]
Bebe Rexha [Real Life]
Miss Piggy [The Muppets]
Dead:
Jared Leto [Real Life]
Notes:
One day, I was browsing through r/whowouldwin and saw that their Character Scramble contest was still a thing (which is a fanfic writing contest). I participated in two of them but got knocked out early. Sadly I missed the sign-ups this time but wanted to still write... because the prompts are just so good. Hi if you're reading this btw :)
So I got the r/popheads and r/music discord to give me character ideas for a mystery fanfiction. I used almost all of them and added some of my own. I also got some spooky locations to use; one of them which is the Backrooms, which will be where the majority of this story will take place (I just have to set that up).
Also, yeah. This is going to be one of the few groups I'll write where It'll be mostly horror-dominant. The other four groups I'm going to write are going to be shorter chapters with a focus on meme-posting. Because this is a crack-fic and also a fun creative exercise for me!
Also, a minimum of one character will die each chapter. And just to keep it interesting, I'm letting you guys decide each time which one character is guaranteed to survive in the next chapter they appear in: https://strawpoll.com/polls/NMnQ5VMG0n6
And remember... this is a borderline trollfic. Expect the unexpected.
Chapter 2: Group 2: The bedroom from the Princess Diana music video
Notes:
less horror this time (there is a little tho), more typing whatever the heck comes into my mind
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Location:
The bedroom from the Princess Diana video
Group 2:
Cacodemon [Doom]
Cammy White [Street Fighter]
Ice Spice [Real Life]
Ms. Frizzle [The Magic School Bus]
Wigglytuff [Pokémon]
"Fuck me, I am soooo going to fire my agent over this duh-duh-duh!" the woman in the ginger afro muttered, pacing around the pink and white bedroom.
"Oh my Ice Spice, no need to swear in front of the children," scolded another woman, albeit cheerfully. She had frizzy red hair, and wore a bright purple dress covered in various pictures of science-related items, "There are many relaxation techniques that can help you manage your anger. Some of these techni-"
"Grrah! Can you just shut up Ms. Frizzle?" Ice Spice demanded angrily, ""I'm not here for any fucking therapy session! What are you? My manager or somethin'? Be useful for once and search for a way outta here duh-duh-duh!"
Cammy White watched the two women fight for a moment, slightly amused at how easily irritated Ice Spice was over something as simple as being stuck inside what appeared to be her music video set with a bunch of strangers. Only this time, it was an actual room and not something filmed with cameras. Still, it was weird that they were all stuck here in the first place. Her training and experience as an MI6 agent left her expecting the unexpected and prepared for anything – in fact, she'd been on far more dangerous predicaments before. But even this was too strange for her.
"Wigglytuff!"
Cammy bent down and rubbed the top of the pink tall balloon-like Pokémon that attached itself to her. She smiled.
And she also had a Pokémon.
"Are you done playin' with the Porky Man? Grrah, get back and start searchin' for a way outta here! Damn!" Ice Spice ordered impatiently.
"It's pronounced pow·kuh·mon," Ms. Frizzle interjected.
"No-one asked, Frizzles!" Ice Spice answered back.
Cammy rolled her eyes at those two and looked away from the Wigglytuff to start looking through the rest of the room's contents. It seemed like most things in here wouldn't look out of place in a rich girl's bedroom; a large double-sided bed, two bedside tables, a dressing table... but Cammy knew better than anyone that not everything was at it seemed. And when the unexpected happened, one should always expect the worst. As if she hadn't thought about it enough during her career.
She opened up the bottom drawer of the nightstand beside the dressing table and checked under its surface. Nothing. She moved onto checking underneath both drawers. Again nothing. Then finally she tried opening them further by pulling open each side. The second time, a small object fell out. A black leather wallet. Cammy opened it, finding photographs inside. They weren't the usual kind either: rather than smiling family portraits or candid shots of friends having fun together, they were photos of people who appeared to have died horribly. Many of the subjects had their faces obscured completely, while others showed only part of the face. What was particularly alarming about them was that the background to most of these photos was the very same room they were in.
"Yo, whatcha find?" Ice Spice asked, curiosity in her tone. She stopped yelling at the other woman long enough to notice what Cammy had found.
"It looks like someone else has been trapped here before us. Look! These photos are disturbing to look at, but do you notice anything strange about them?"
Ice Spice frowned at Cammy's voice, already finding it annoying akin to Ms. Frizzle. She grabbed the wallet off her hand and scanned through the photos. Her face twisted into disgust, a look that Cammy recognised well from her own interactions with M. Bison. But what happened next, surprised the MI6 agent.
"So the paprazzi in their face, grrah?" she said very nonchalantly and inappropriately.
"This is serious, Ice Spice," Cammy scolded, "Is that even your real name? I thought you wanted to get out of here? So why aren't you fazed out about those pictures?"
Ice Spice took a deep breath, before responding. She gave the wallet back to Cammy and stared at her blue eyes, bitterly "Can't you take a chill pill, bruh? I obviously want to escape as well but you're taking this too seriously!"
"Five minutes ago, you were lashing at Ms. Frizzle over there!" Cammy White pointed out.
Ice Spice shrugged, "And I oop!"
Cammy didn't respond immediately, or at all. Instead continuing to examine the photographs. There wasn't much information to glean from them beyond the obvious – these people must have been murdered somewhere within the confines of this room and then placed here afterward. This meant whoever killed them would probably still be nearby. Not wanting to risk getting caught off guard again, Cammy quickly closed the wallet and put it into her pocket.
As she did, she felt something move against her leg. Looking down, she saw Wigglytuff watching her curiously. For whatever reason, it wanted her attention. Cammy smiled gently at it, making sure not to get distracted by the hijinx of the Pokémon showing its affection. After all, she needed to keep her focus sharp.
"Oh, how interesting!" Ms. Frizzle exclaimed suddenly, "I just grabbed a marvellous book out of your drawer and saw a button underneath it! And well..."
Both Cammy and Ice Spice turned to see the science teacher pointing towards the wall behind the bed. It took a few moments for them to spot it themselves, but once they did, they couldn't believe their eyes. Both women stared at the stairs, momentarily stunned. Cammy let out a sigh of relief. At least now she could escape without needing to worry about the possibility that she might fall prey to another killer's clutches. Or so she hoped.
Suddenly, she heard a faint thud. Turning towards the door, Cammy noticed it had swung wide open, revealing a bumpy red spherical monster floating outside. Its singular green eye glowed menacingly, causing Cammy to feel uncomfortable.
A Cacodemon?
Before Cammy could do anything, the creature floated inside the room. In seconds, it spat out an orange ball of lightning, making direct contact with Ms. Frizzle, who was too busy trying to figure out the mystery of the hidden stairway to react properly. Before she realized what was happening, the electrical current coursed through her body and vaporised her instantly, leaving no trace of blood or bodily fluids whatsoever.
Ice Spice screamed in horror as soon as the last sparkle disappeared into thin air. She stood completely still, unable to process what the hell just happened. But there was no time to ponder such things; the Cacodemon had its eye set on them and the room looked like it was about to fall apart. The ceiling had started caving in, meaning they were left with one option – run!
But the cogs in her brain left her in a state of frozen fear, and before Ice Spice even reacted, she felt the wind being knocked out of her by Cammy, where a dark shadow loomed overhead her previous position. The passage of time moved so fast for the American rapper that she couldn't do anything to warn Cammy about what was about to happen!
"Cammy, wait!"
The very next moment, a large part of the ceiling above Cammy came crashing down on her head, cracking her skull and killed her almost immediately.
There was no warning. Just the sound of the heavy metal beam falling, followed by the loud clang of bone breaking. Blood splattered everywhere in a short radius, mixing with bits of brain matter. The smell of burnt frizzled flesh filled the room, overpowering even the scent of death lingering in the air.
The sight made Ice Spice gag, seeing two of her companions completely dead. Her hands shook violently as she held herself back from vomiting right there and then. All she managed to hold onto was the fact that Cammy had saved her life. That she'd sacrificed hers to save her own. And though she may never know why, she was going to make sure her death hadn't gone unnoticed.
With that thought firmly fixed in mind, Ice Spice had her eyes set on the stairs, descending downwards deeper towards unknown bottom levels of this place. Guarding the entrance, she could see the Wigglytuff shouting its name, but in an encouraging tone that suggested it wanted her to survive the final stretch. She could feel the Cacodemon stare her down and readying to aim for a kill shot. But Ice Spice wouldn't give up, not at all! There was no way she was going to die here today, and so she sprinted past the mess and dived towards the stairs, arms stretched out towards the Wigglytuff to soften her fall. And despite the odds against her favour, it worked perfectly. As she fell further down the staircase, the Wigglytuff reached out to catch her in its soft pink puffy stumps called hands.
Wigglypuff wished her new-found friends were still alive. She looked inside her heart, hoping there was any room to spare for regret or guilt. And yet...she knew deep down that such emotions wouldn't help anyone. If anything, they'd hinder her chances of surviving this ordeal. So, she pushed those feelings away; and focused solely on doing what needed to be done. Her chances of survival?
Good eno-o-ough, good eno-o-ough
Good eno-o-ough, good eno-o-ough
Good eno-o-ough, good eno-o-ough
Good eno-o-ough, good eno-o-ough
Now Playing: PinkPantheress & Ice Spice - Boy’s a liar Pt. 2
"Oh, fuck off!" Ice Spice grunted after hearing the Wigglytuff's rendition of that one song she collabed on, "You're not even a Jigglypuff!"
The Wigglytuff shrugged (by bobbing its body up and down), not giving a single fuck like it should.
Survived (will proceed to Round 1A):
Wigglytuff [Pokémon]
Ice Spice [Real Life]
Cacodemon [Doom]
Dead:
Ms. Frizzle [The Magic School Bus]
Cammy White [Street Fighter]
Notes:
Okay now for the detailed notes. Originally, my plan for this chapter was to kill all of this group, but thought to myself that even that was too cruel for me. So, then my second draft had it so that only Wigglytuff survived. That also didn't feel right, and gave me limited options to work with. Yeah, so I made Ice Spice and Wigglytuff the survivors in this chapter. I kinda wanted to write Ms. Frizzle as a survivor but I better connected with Ice Spice imo. And Cammy White felt too boring to keep (and yes, I know Bebe Rexha is there, but that's different!). Reminder to not take this seriously lol
So two groups done, three more to go for introductory chapters. And oh boy, the third group has some popheads discord faves in it. Also, here's the strawpoll if you want to vote for someone to survive in this group: https://strawpoll.com/polls/kogjkL02KZ6
Chapter 3: Group 3: The YG Entertainment Dungeon
Summary:
Group 3 find themselves in the YG Entertainment dungeon, and must get out!
Notes:
this is the worst group of people i've ever written so far
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Location:
The YG Entertainment Dungeon
Group 3:
Andrew Tate [Real Life]
Chris Brown [Real Life]
Matty Healy [Real Life]
Rita Repulsa [Power Rangers]
Ryo Yamada [Bocchi the Rock!]
Taylor Swift [Real Life]
Taylor Swift knew she was in trouble when she found herself lying on the cold hard ground, staring at the faces of two men. She recognised the one of her left as Matty Healy, the lead singer of The 1975 and also the official boyfriend of hers truly, Taylor Alison Swift. He was handsome, gorgeous, jaw-dropping hot to be exact. His face had a sexy masculine look with perfect cheekbones and deep brown eyes that made Taylor see flying sparks every time he looked at her. Unfortunately, the other guy next to him was someone she remembered all too well, and not in the positive way. He was bald (massive turn-off already), wore sunglasses, and had a short beard which were qualities that Taylor hated in her ideal man. His fans called him Andrew Tate but Taylor would rather make Cruel Summer a single than verbally acknowledge his name. He worked under Voldemort logic where if you said his name once, he would somehow pinpoint your location and lecture you about how much of an alpha male he is.
"Hey babe," her boyfriend Matty said, licking Taylor's cheek gently then placing his lips on hers before parting them to look into her eyes. "I think we've just got kidnapped."
"Again?" Taylor asked, mildly irritated. She still shuddered thinking about that time her ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn was in his BDSM era, "I already told you for the fifth time that I don't want to imitate that scene from Fifty Shades Freed."
"This is for real Taylor," Matty replied, pulling away slightly from her. The twelve-time Grammy award-winning artist could tell how serious he was getting and so she let him go without further complaints.
She looked around her, and noticed they were inside some sort of abandoned dungeon cell, littered with threatening-looking items such as chains, metal shackles, and BLACKPINK Funko Pop Vinyls. Three stone walls made from old bricks surrounded them, the decay obvious from the crumble of mortar visible between gaps. Most of the wall was covered up by big posters of K-pop acts such as BIGBANG and iKON, if only to conceal the condition of the area. Vertical bars and a locked door were placed as the fourth wall, serving as a see-through barrier to keep them imprisoned.
"Well, what now?" Taylor asked, "Are we just stuck here?"
Matty chuckled nervously, "So I got good news and bad news."
She had no patience.
"Both."
Matty sighed and pulled out a small silver key from his pocket. It glimmered in the dim light coming from the torches hanging up along the walls outside. "Fine, I'll say the good news first. This key was hidden in one of the cracks between those bricks over there," he pointed towards a slightly loose brick at the back wall.
Taylor Swift gulped. There was always a catch.
"And what's the bad news then?"
"The key I have doesn't work on our cell door," Matty admitted, "In fact, they have our key and we have theirs."
She noticed his eyes dart towards another cell directly opposite them where interestingly enough, were another three trapped inside as well: two females and a male. Collectively, they were certainly most intriguing to look at then the two she was stuck with. The first woman wore a long petticoat brown-orange dress, with a black feathery collar and zany two-coned hairstyle. Her skin tone was tanned, and she had a pair of dark brown eyes and a smile so hot that it could reach #1 on the Billboard charts.
"I, Rita Repulsa, have the key to your freedom! Now give up your key or you'll all suffer!" She declared boldly, waving a small golden key in her hand, making sure everyone heard and saw her.
"Yeah right, your magic staff is literally outside this cell," the other girl in the cell pointed out, and muttered sarcastically under her breath. She was considerably shorter and younger looking with short blue hair and unassuming yellow eyes. Her white collared shirt and dark blue skirt gave her an aloof vibe about her, one that suggested she was comfortable being alone in dark places, "Just give us the key and we'll let you out after we leave."
"Shut the fuck up Ryo! No we fucking won't," the third person, an adult man around thirty year old with a short beard and short red cap. He turned back to Taylor and her cell, "You better give those fucking keys to us before I smash my fist through this cell and drag you out of there. Do you fucking know who I am?"
"Unfortunately yes, Chris Brown," the blue haired teenage girl deadpanned. She remained emotionless, like she was disappointed in her cellmates who were somehow much older than she was and yet lacking in emotional maturity, "Ugh, you two are making it worse."
Taylor Swift sympathised with Ryo Yamada as she sensed the annoyance emanating from the young Japanese girl. At least Taylor had her boyfriend with her. And even though she was breathing the same dungeon air as Andrew Tate, at least he didn't say a single word since she woke up. As long as no-one said hi-
"Oh my god, that's Top G Andrew Tate isn't it?" Chris Brown squealed excitedly, "I knew there was something familiar about your face."
For fuck's sake.
Even though nothing was happening physically to the room, Taylor felt a wave of hostility about to come out of the bald bearded man from her cell. Everybody braced for impact.
"So all of you think we're fucking stuck here? That's just your loser mindsets speaking, bros!" Andrew Tate yelled in an unattractive macho voice, "Don't be pussies! Reject weakness in any form! You're only weak because you're letting ugly women like Ms. Feminist over there cloud your judgement. Men are strong, men are mighty, and more importantly better than women. And don't even get me started on Dua Lip—"
"Dude shut up already will ya?!" Matty shouted desperately into his ears. He held onto both of Taylor's hands tightly, keeping them still and stressed about the whole situation. He passed the key he was holding to Taylor discreetly.
"Don't you dare fucking interrupt me you beta cuck. Your mind has been brainwashed by feminine thoughts by this bitch you call your girlfriend. I have multiple women all wanting a piece of me, and you could only manage one? Get out of my fucking sight."
Taylor Swift was furious and pissed off. But she decided to be the better person in this situation, after all it would look bad on her if TMZ were to ever find out. So she took a deep breath, kept her cool, and muttered five simple words instead.
"You need to calm down."
All was silent for approximately the length of a TikTok video before it was interrupted by a loud laugh from the misogynistic bald man.
"Ahahahaha! Calm down?! Are you fucking kidding me?! You're the one who needs a brutal reality check! I'm not the one who's acting like a woman here, bitch! You women belong to us men so you don't have an opinion! Let the superior gender, males, show you how to take control of a situation, 'kay?"
That was it! He just made a really deep cut and Taylor was done playing nice now. She confronted him, ready to give Andrew a piece of her mind but before she could say anything, another person beat her to it.
"Oh please, did you just call us inferior?" shouted Rita Repulsa in an angry screechy voice from the other cell, "If I weren't stuck in this flimsy cell, I'd have killed you by now!"
"Andrew had made some good fucking points," Chris Brown refuted, but he wasn't done talking yet, "All women do is complain and whine about unimportant stuff. It's not our problem you're on your periods! Why can't they just stop complaining and get to work such as making us men sandwiches?"
The girl in the blue short hair shook her head and rolled her eyes while glaring at him, "You did not just say that," she spat out with venom.
"Get the fuck over it Ryo," Chris Brown threatened. He moved closer to Ryo, chest out with a smug expression. The teenager looked away and sighed deeply, "One day you'll wake up from the Matrix and live in the real world. Oh wait, you can't! You're female."
Taylor watched all of this unfold with utter disgust and annoyance. These two morons had no idea how misogynistic they were, or if they even cared in the first place. But something needed to be done to stop them.
Clutching the small silver key in her hand, she tossed it across to the other cell where Rita Repulsa caught it deftly. A loud laugh came out from her as she unlocked the door with ease. She walked through the exit, where she quickly let Ryo through before she closed it behind her, leaving Chris Brown alone in the cell.
"What the fuck are you doing woman?"
Rita glared at him, "Your demise."
She quickly grabbed her long, ornate staff that was just out of reach from her previous position. The red crystal attached to the crescent-shaped head glowed brightly, before a burst of red energy shot straight into his chest and exploded outward with blood. His muscles twitched violently as he convulsed uncontrollably, screaming for help. Blood poured out of every hole on his body; the wound in his stomach gushing gallons of liquid. In less than thirty seconds, his lifeblood seeped into the floor. He fell forward onto his knees, collapsing slowly until finally falling flat on top of himself. Dead.
She turned to Taylor, who nodded her approval before she stepped forward to confront Andrew again. The once self-proclaimed alpha was backed up against the stone wall, eyes wide full of fear when he saw Rita approach him. His body froze, unable to move as he whimpered with terror.
"Oh sweet Bugatti, don't kill me! I'm sorry! I can give you anything, money, fame, women, I'll pay whatever price you want… just spare my life!"
Rita didn't care. In fact, she felt quite powerful now that she'd got her staff back. And now, revenge was hers.
"Die!"
Rita fired off a shot of red energy at Andrew's face, making a direct impact on his cheekbone. His nose broke apart instantly along with half of his jawline, which crumbled to dust and blew away into the air. Bits of bone splattered everywhere as bits and pieces of his skull were crushed underfoot by the rest of his body. Finally, he collapsed completely still, dead.
Rita Repulsa gave her small golden key to Ryo, who then opened the other cell door and allowed Taylor Swift and Matty Healy to walk out without any resistance.
"So…" Matty broke the uncomfortable silence between everyone, "Do we split up now?"
"You know what? I've got a better idea," Rita spoke with confidence. Her staff held tightly in her hands as she stood tall with pride, "I think it's time for the four of us to form an unholy alliance. What do you say?"
"Sure, why not? I'm ready for it."
"As long as I'm with my girlfriend, I don't mind either way."
"k."
Survived (will proceed to Round 1A):
Rita Repulsa [Power Rangers]
Taylor Swift [Real Life]
Matty Healy [Real Life]
Ryo Yamada [Bocchi the Rock!]
Dead:
Chris Brown [Real Life]
Andrew Tate [Real Life]
Notes:
Detailed notes time! Originally someone wanted me to write Joe Biden and Tonald Drump (not a typo) but ended up scrapping that idea. However, I needed some asshole victims so Chris Brown and Andrew Tate were the replacements. I massively dislike those two in real life so they only were in the story so I could kill them off.
Another thing I'm going to be doing, is changing the title of this fic and not making it a pure Backrooms fic. More like a generic horror fanfic (think American Horror Story or similar). Also, the tone is going to go back and forth between horror-dominant and comedy-dominant with the chapters. This is probably going to be the most comedy-dominant chapter out of the five introductory chapters. Will probably mark them if I feel like it later down the track.
Three groups down, two groups left to go. As usual, here's the strawpoll link: https://strawpoll.com/polls/Qrgebd2pOZp
Chapter 4: Group 4: Backstage of a High School Auditorium
Notes:
you know what would be funny? if i used second person pov for this chapter lmao
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Location:
The backstage of a high school auditorium
Group 4:
Divatox [Power Rangers]
The Hunter [Enter the Gungeon]
Nicki Minaj [Real Life]
Ray William Johnson [Real Life]
Walter White [Breaking Bad]
Your name is irrelevant. To the others, you're simply named 'The Hunter'.
You were one of four Gungeoneers back when you were trapped in the Gungeon, a shape-shifting fortress shaped like a large bullet and protected by the Cult of the Gundead. Legend has it, a weapon of unimaginable power was hidden somewhere within its depths – but only those with exceptional skill, luck, and determination could ever hope to find it, lest they die horribly trying… again and again and again. The Gungeon existed outside the confines of relative time, looping in an eternal cycle where death just sent you back to the entrance of the cursed fortress. Most deemed the effort too great to take for such uncertainty of a reward, but you weren't given a say in that. Your current circumstances prevented you from leaving and you'd been stuck for several hundred years, your soul bounded into this damned place like some kind of twisted punishment inflicted upon you.
Until recently.
With your trusty crossbow and the assistance of your loyal canine companion Junior II, you fought your way through each of the ever-changing floors, killing any Bullet Kins that got in your way. It took you several thousand attempts over many long centuries before you managed to reach the final floor, where the weapon you'd spent so much time searching for awaited you at last. Finally, all those attempts were finally going to mean something, and you felt as though you were going to kill your past and stop yourself from getting trapped by your arch nemesis Dr. Wolfenclaw. But then, just as you thought all your suffering had finally come to an end... you found yourself in somewhere completely different.
Which is where you pick up your story now.
It's dark, and you're standing inside a darkened backstage of a high school auditorium. There's no sound except for the gentle pattering of raindrops on the roof above you. Your eyes adjust quickly enough to see what little there is to be seen – a wooden floor beneath your feet, walls covered in rough stucco, and a black curtain hanging down from the ceiling covering the rest of the room. There's a thin layer of dust coating everything, including the curtains themselves which have begun to sag slightly due to age and lack of use. The lights are off here, leaving nothing more than dim moonlight filtering through windows behind the curtain itself. A few chairs sit empty against one wall while another lays an old piano.
You wrap your yellow cape around you loosely, to keep away the surprisingly cold air. It doesn't help much, but it does make you feel more comfortable. Unfortunately, comfort isn't exactly what you need right now. You notice pretty much immediately that all the weapons you were carrying disappeared, as if they were yanked away from your arrival. Your canine companion Junior II also vanished along with them, forcing you to be alone in this situation. You're defenceless and vulnerable without anything to fight with. Worse still, you can sense yourself in a weakened state, dizzy and coughing heavily. You resist the urge to fall over or vomit as best you can.
"Hey!" you hear someone shout out suddenly. "Is anyone else here?"
You freeze. You aren't sure if whoever shouted is harmless or dangerous so you keep yourself guarded in case things turns for the worse.
A figure steps forward from behind the curtain. It appears to be a man wearing a red casual shirt. He looks unfamiliar, but he seems friendly enough. His hair is short and black, sticking straight up, and his brown eyes stare curiously at you. In fact, he stares at you quite intently, almost uncomfortably.
"Oh wow!" the man foreign to you laughs, "That is such a sick costume! I'm not sure what anime character you're supposed to be, but that looks hella cool!"
Anime? You've never heard such a word, let alone any characters from this supposed Anime. He hasn't tried to kill you yet, so you lower your guard a little. Maybe this guy knows something about how you got here, or even the location of where they are now. Either way, you're still hesitant to trust him so you pursue with a question.
"Who are you?"
Immediately, you could see the man taken by surprise, by your admittedly forceful nature of your voice. He recovers quickly and introduces himself to you, "I'm Ray William Johnson, former YouTuber from the old days."
He chuckles a little, perhaps at this memory, and continues talking, "I must've had too much to drink because I'm a little lost. Do you know where we are and can I borrow your phone? My wife Kelly must be worried sick about me!"
You frown, realising that he doesn't know the answer to the next question you were about to ask. And you feel confused, with the way he keeps referring to things that are completely unknown to you. A different internal question comes up in your mind and the words that accompanied them come out your mouth, "What exactly is a phone and YouTuber? It's makin-"
A loud cough from your mouth silences the rest of what you were saying. Your head feels heavy suddenly, and you try desperately to focus on the man in front of you. Nothing is making much sense anymore, and your mind begins to wander against its own will. Everything sounds increasingly distant and muffled; voices become indistinct whispers in the background of your consciousness. You feel yourself falling into a deep slumber unwillingly, and you fight to stay awake.
Just as you're about to pass out, you feel something jab your arm roughly. It stings painfully for only a brief moment, but it's enough for you to open your eyes again to find two men staring back at you, one looking concerned and the other mildly annoyed holding a syringe filled with clear liquid. You pick yourself up slowly, noticing the sharp pain in your chest has faded away into oblivion.
"You're welcome," says the unfamiliar man, in a deep voice, "Don't worry, I just injected a little bit of meth in you. You should be fine for now."
"Can I have some too?" asks Ray, "The meth?"
"No."
Your vision returns to normal, allowing you to see the man who saved you clearly once more. He wears a black trench coat jacket over his green buttoned shirt, accompanied by khaki pants and boots. A hat sits atop his head, covering the presumed baldness underneath. Glasses frame his face and accentuate the wrinkles on his forehead. His appearance gives off the feeling of age and experience, though he looks far weaker than what you initially perceived him to be.
You ask who he is and his name, which he answers gruffly. Walter White is the name he gives you, talking up his profession as a chemistry teacher at a local high school. He refuses to delve deeper than that, so you don't pry further either. Instead, you mutter a single thanks before you turn towards Ray, who is looking at the two of you in awe.
"So… this means that we definitely have to stick together, right?" Ray asks nervously, "I doubt any of us know where the hell we are. Safety in numbers."
You and Walter both nod. Without your guns or your dog, there wasn't really much choice. As a group, you decide to leave the auditorium and explore the building, in the hopes that you find some clues on where exactly you are.
The school hallways are empty save the three of you, giving the impression that they are large and spacious. The dim lights illuminating the path around you flicker occasionally, causing shadows to dance across the walls and floors. Despite being an abandoned high school, the entire place feels strangely alive. There is a strange energy buzzing throughout the facility that makes everything seem surreal and dreamlike. As the three of you walk along the corridors, you notice various doors and windows leading to classrooms, bathrooms, and miscellaneous oddities. Some of the doors to these rooms appear to be locked while others were open. They're all completely vacant, and you wonder why people have abandoned this place in the first place. Something did not feel right about the whole situation.
Walter notices a door with a broken lock and opens it lowly, peering inside. The room looks like it used to be a classroom, but everything in it has been stripped bare. Most of the desks and chairs are smashed to pieces, as though someone had tried to burn down the place. Wooden floorboards crumbled underfoot, leaving imprints of footprints and dust in their wake. There were no signs of life anywhere. No books, papers, or anything else that could have survived the fire. Even the windows looked like they'd been shattered by bullets, and there weren't any bullet holes in the glass. You couldn't tell if anyone had ever come through this place or just left it to rot.
For a few minutes, your group continue exploring the school hallways, hoping to discover what happened here. All of a sudden, you hear a faint scream echo throughout the halls, followed by the sound of an evil menacing laugh. Instantly, everyone freezes in fear, wondering where the noise came from.
"Jesus Christ, what the fuck was that?" you hear Walter say.
"I know this looks stupid and I'm going against my better judgement but we have to find out," says Ray.
He takes a step forward slowly, trying to get closer to whatever made the screaming and laughing noises out in the dark. You and Walter follow him, feeling a little nervous about venturing further. The hallways become darker as you go deeper into the building, the light fading away. Your footsteps echo loudly through the empty space, and the air becomes cold and damp. The stench of rot and death permeates the air, making you gag slightly.
"Guys, wait up!" Walter yells, trying to keep pace with you and Ray.
You both stop and turn to look at Walter, who is visibly struggling. Ray seems a little surprised that he's still keeping up with the group, relatively speaking.
"What's wrong?" asks Ray.
"You can't go any further. This place is dangerous. It's a fucking corpse-ridden hellhole," Walter argues, "Let's go back and find the exit to this retched place."
Ray relents and nods reluctantly, "Okay, you're right. We've learned nothing from our time here."
You all stop and prepare to turn back, when you all see something move within the darkness ahead. The hairs on your neck stand straight up, sending chills racing through your body as the figure rapidly moves closer towards your group.
"Nicki Minaj?" you hear Ray gasp, as if he recognised them.
The figure, who you now recognise as a woman shouts out frantically, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING! GET OUT! GET THE FUC-"
Before Nicki could finish her sentence, a red beam of energy shot forth from behind the figure and hits Nicki Minaj square in the chest. Her eyes widen in horror as she falls backwards onto the ground, clutching her chest and wheezing for breath. Her eyes are watering as blood spurts out from her mouth. She struggles desperately to speak, appearing to be in too much pain to utter a single word. Another beam strikes Nicki directly in the head, spilling out a small flying explosion of blood, brains, and fragments of human skin upon the cold floor below. Everyone watches silently in stunned silence as a second figure, this one more intimidating, comes out of the shadows, slowly approaching your group with sinister intentions. You could see she's a tall woman with brown hair tied to a ponytail. A golden headpiece wraps around her head, partially covering her right eye. Her red and black outfit was moderately revealing, with two black gauntlets on her shoulders complimenting her fashion choice.
Her malicious smile tells you enough about how dangerous she really is.
"Wh-what the fuck, is that Divatox?" Ray breathes softly.
"Literally who?"
"One of the villains from the Power Rangers show I used to watch back then. But now- wait I don't even know why the fuck I'm explaining this to you. Just fucking run!" Ray screams.
You don't need to be told twice. You sprint out down the hallways, with Ray following closely behind. Fear, an emotion you rarely every experience, grips you once again, but you manage to push past it and run. You hear the agonised voice of Walter White behind you, breathing heavily and struggling to catch up to the pace that the both of you are setting. He never catches up and soon, you hear his presence cut off abruptly by the sound of a terrifying scream followed by an evil laughter echoing throughout the halls. You don't even have time to look back and check whether he was dead, lest you die too.
After several long seconds of pure terror, you and Ray finally reach the front entrance of the school. Feeling somewhat safe from the menacing monstrous woman, you both decide to slow down and catch your breaths. You're both panting, your bodies sweaty, chests heaving from running so hard.
"Fuck! FUCK!" Ray swore at the top of his lungs, cursing the whole entire place and Divatox, for killing Nicki Minaj so brutally. The mood here is serious and tense, not only because of the dangers lurking inside these walls. You just saw and heard two people die close to you, and this wasn't like the Gungeon where death was just a minor setback. Here, there's no turning back time or reviving like you would normally do. No, in this world, the moment you died, you're dead for good.
You turn back to peer inside the darkened hallway where you just ran from, seeing no sign of anyone or anything else. For some reason, even though the two of you are safe for now, you still feel incredibly uneasy, almost like something is nudging you to leave immediately. Divatox is still out there, and it won't be long until she catches up to you. And you aren't sure you will survive if you meet her again like this.
"Well, I ain't staying inside this shitty school any longer," Ray exclaims, his hand resting against the door frame, "I say we get the hell out of here before Divatox returns."
You agree with him, and nod. It's still night-time outside, but you figure whatever is there should be safer than sheltering in the school building itself anyway. The two of you open the front doors and venture outside.
Survived (will proceed to Round 1A):
The Hunter [Enter the Gungeon]
Ray William Johnson [Real Life]
Divatox [Power Rangers]
Dead:
Nicki Minaj [Real Life]
Walter White [Breaking Bad]
Notes:
Fourth group finished and finalised, just one more group to introduce before we can begin the actual fun of inter-group character dynamics and spoopy situations.
You may have noticed that I went in on writing in Second Person instead of the third person limited perspective. I honestly originally wasn't going to write in Second Person POV, but wanted to have a little fun in pushing myself to write something different (stylistically anyway). I love Enter the Gungeon and have completed two full runs (not the true ending though, might get to that eventually), but I felt that The Hunter character that gets no love in the AO3 community so why not try and do something different as an experiment. There's a fifty-fifty chance I'll drop the second person POV when The Hunter appears in a later chapter, but yeah it was fun to write.
Final introductory chapter on the way, and once that's done, I'll do a little clean-up on the tags. Oh yeah, and strawpoll link if you don't want to see a specific character get killed: https://strawpoll.com/polls/XmZRxV49wnd
Chapter 5: Group 5: Ed Sheeran's Studio
Notes:
can't wait to hate-watch episode 2 of the idol on monday lol
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Location:
Ed Sheeran's Studio
Group 5:
Barney the Dinosaur [Barney & Friends]
Camila Cabello [Real Life]
Fluttershy [My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]
Jocelyn [The Idol]
Shawn Mendes [Real Life]
Camila Cabello's heart was racing, her body tense with fear. Frozen to the spot, she watched as the dark shadows seemed to morph in front of her eyes. Suddenly the silhouettes took shape, the ambiguity faded, and there, before her, stood a disturbing scene play out like some twisted scene in a horror movie. Her eyes became wide and watched in terror as a purple dinosaur devoured the bodily remains of a barely recognisable person. The sounds that escaped its gaping mouth were horrifying, distorted to a high-pitched happy voice that was dissonant to the scene in front of her. Camila could hear the faint melody of the Barney theme song from the creature's jaws as it feasted.
It was the most messed up thing she'd seen in her life, and the mental image of a demonic Barney the Dinosaur viciously eating the remains of a human being, would forever be burned into her brain.
"Barney?" she whispered to herself. She watched in disbelief as the purple dinosaur continued to rip apart the remains of a person that lay on the ground before him. "Oh my God."
She felt the colour drain from her face, and her blood started to run cold. A rising sense of panic formed in the pit of her stomach, feeling the urgency of escape the horrid scene before her. She did not want to be its next unwilling meal. She backed away slowly, careful to not make any sudden sound or movements as she did so. Her hands were still covering her mouth as she tried to control her breathing, and keep her presence unknown. Her heart hammered in her chest, as each step backwards on the carpeted floor brought her closer to the hallway corner, closer to escaping unscathed from Barney.
But she did not get that chance. As she took her fifth step backwards, her ankle twisted underneath her and she fell onto her back with a thump. That was enough to alert Barney, who swiftly turned its head toward her direction. Its face was smeared with blood and its sharp teeth were a rotten yellow. It seemed to be licking its lips, almost like it was savouring its victim. Her only option was to run.
She turned around and sprinted down around the corner into the dim corridors of the building. She ran as fast as her legs would carry her, which turned out to be pretty fast considering how terrified she was at that point. The monster's footsteps echoed throughout the hallways as it followed her, pursuing its meal with an alarming speed. The twisted maze of corridors lined up with locked doors offered no help in temporary safety as she ran frantically through them, attempting to unsuccessfully open some along the way. Her vision started to become blurry, but she kept going. Though, she knew she was running out of time.
She ran through three hallways and around four corners before she slowed down, realising that she had lost the pursuing purple dinosaur. Camila was alone, in an empty hallway, but she wasn't safe and it was only a matter of seconds before Barney found her again. Her breaths were laboured and her lungs screamed for oxygen. She bent down on one knee, feeling the burning sensation in her lungs from the excessive running. A single tear formed in her eyes, the fear overwhelming her body. Her shoulders began to shake uncontrollably and her body started to tremble, as she was overcome with a feeling of utter hopelessness. She was going to die.
"Hey Camila, in here!" A familiar voice called out from one of the hallway doors.
Camila slowly rose up and turned towards the source of the noise. On the door, there was a sign marked "Ed Sheeran's Studio" plastered on the wall, with a white "W" on a blue background beneath it. A small window was situated above the writing, and Camila could see a brown-haired young man peering through. She instantly recognised him as her ex-boyfriend Shawn Mendes, singer-songwriter and former Vine sensation. He waved her arms towards Camila, encouraging her to come in.
The door opened and Shawn Mendes let Camila in, before closing it behind them and locking it. He grabbed Camila's shoulders, pulling her into a tight embrace. "Oh my god, are you alright?" he asked worriedly.
"I was so scared Shawn," she replied, trembling. Her chest rose and fell, breathing in short, rapid breaths as she held onto her ex-boyfriend for dear life. "I've never been so scared at all!"
"Hey, hey," Shawn soothed, running his fingers through her dark brunette hair. Her breathing calmed down, as they turned slow and gentle, "It's going to be okay."
He pulled away from the embrace, wiping the tears off her face, "We're not the only ones who's stuck here."
Her eyes wandered across the room, over to the two others that were present. One was completely unfamiliar to her, but Camila recognised the second one from a television show they watched together.
"Are you Fluttershy?"
The yellow pegasus mare with a pink mane and tail nodded. On her rear, Camila could see the cutie mark that resembled three pink butterflies. She meekly smiled at her, "Yes…"
"Woah!" Camila exclaimed, a bit too loud, "Shawn used to make me watch MLP! You were always my favourite pony."
Fluttershy blushed lightly at the compliment, "Thanks… I guess,"
The other unfamiliar being in the room, a woman with blonde hair sporting a black dress and sunglasses, was standing with her arms folded. A cigarette was in between her lips, and she looked displeased with their presence.
"I'm Jocelyn," she introduced herself, taking out the cigarette from her mouth. She dropped it onto the ground, and stepped on it, before looking back up at the three of them. She looked mildly annoyed, almost pissed, but Camila couldn't tell if it was because of her presence, or something else entirely, "So, you're his girlfriend?"
"Former," Shawn corrected.
"Shame," Jocelyn replied, with a hint of sarcasm, "I guess it didn't work out the second time."
Camila frowned. She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, not letting the other woman get to her. She changed the topic, not wanting to get into intricate details about her past relationships, "So, you're all hiding from the dinosaur as well?"
Everybody in the room nodded in unison, their eyes filled with a slight sense of dread. It was clear that everyone was scared, some doing a better job at hiding it than others. Fluttershy looked like she was on the verge of tears, Shawn's eyes were glued onto the floor, and Jocelyn looked disinterested, smoking yet another cigarette that Camila could only guess was calming down her nerves.
"He killed Ed Sheeran!" Shawn angrily blurted out. "We all heard it happen! His agonising scream was so loud!"
Fluttershy was trembling, clearly affected by the memory, "Y-yeah… It was awful…"
The yellow pony started sobbing uncontrollably, her cries filled with despair and fear. She looked so distraught, so hopeless. Her cries turned to whimpers, and she quietly sobbed.
"Shh," Camila cooed, putting her arms around the distressed pegasus. Her fur felt soft and fluffy against her skin, that it provided calmness for the singer as well. She hugged her tightly as she cried into her shoulder, tears dampening her shirt.
"I mean, I feel like it could be a lot worse."
Shawn turned his head towards Jocelyn, who was on her fifth cigarette, "What are you talking about? Ed Sheeran's fucking dead."
"We're still aliv-"
Without warning, the door of the studio flung open, completely busted. Everyone in the room jumped at the sound of the door crashing against the wall.
Barney the Dinosaur found them.
They all watched in fear as the purple dinosaur burst through, bloodstained, feral, and demonly smiling. It was looking at them with a crazed expression in its eyes, ready to attack. The monstrous purple dinosaur opened its jaws, revealing a wide-open mouth of rotten sharpened teeth, and pounced for the kill.
Fluttershy screamed and backed up into the corner. Shawn tried to push Camila towards the door to escape, but for him, it was too late. The dinosaur quickly grabbed hold of Shawn and bit down on his neck, tearing a large chunk out. Blood spurted out from the wound and splattered across the floor. Fluttershy shrieked in terror, watching Shawn's blood spurt out onto the floor. His unnerving scream of agony sent shivers down Camila's spine. She watched as Shawn fell limp into the dinosaur's jaws. It slobbered over the fresh meat in its mouth, licking the blood that covered his face with its forked tongue.
"We have to move now." Jocelyn screamed, pointing to the open doorway. Her eyes darted towards Camila and Fluttershy, the latter who cowered in the corner. Fluttershy looked petrified, her eyes were wide with fear. The look in her eyes seemed like she was going to faint at any moment.
Jocelyn repeated herself with more urgency, "Come on! Before he finishes eating Shawn Mendes!"
Camila reached out for the terrified pony's hoof and helped her up. She was still trembling, and the moment she touched Fluttershy's hoof, she immediately jumped. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened in shock, but she got up regardless. They both sprinted as fast as they could out of the room, following Jocelyn deeper into the building.
Survived (will proceed to Round 1B):
Barney the Dinosaur [Barney & Friends]
Camila Cabello [Real Life]
Fluttershy [My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic]
Jocelyn [The Idol]
Dead:
Shawn Mendes [Real Life]
Notes:
Group 5 introductions are complete and I am done setting up. Bring on the inter-group chaos in future chapters. Long block of text incoming.
So I cheated a little with this one. The original line-up for this group was originally going to be Squidward, BB-8, Donald Duck, Ava Max, and Barney the Dinosaur but it was a pretty boring group to write and not really to my liking. So that was scrapped and dicked around on #general to come up with a topical team. With #general talking about how much the Idol sucked and the breakup of Camila and Shawn, they were given a guaranteed spot. Next, was to come up with a fourth member that wasn't a reference to a Pop Crave tweet.
My final choices were between Gekko from PJ Masks, Kana Arima from Oshi No Ko, or Fluttershy from My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. The former two were for reasons to annoy two different groups of people (you know who you are) but obviously ended up with Fluttershy because she fits into a character arc I want to write. And also, Fluttershy is a mood.
Just for fun, I also posted a secret strawpoll on if Shawn Mendes or Camila Cabello should be eaten by Barney and Shawn Mendes won the poll. His prize was death.
So next two chapters are going to be about the groups meeting up. The next chapter will be about three groups meeting at SCP-3008, aka infinite ikea as suggested by someone on #general.
Thanks for reading and Strawpoll is here by the way: https://strawpoll.com/polls/YVyPmB2b4nN
Chapter 6: Round 1A: SCP-3008
Summary:
Three groups find themselves in the infinite IKEA. Wacky hijinks happen.
Notes:
We'll finally see some inter-group conflict in this chapter. Thanks to ben on discord for suggesting IKEA as the setting for this chapter :)
(and because I want to kinda take this semi-seriously, I'm going to stop using song titles for chapters and relabel them for clarity)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Location:
SCP-3008: The Infinite Ikea
Group 2:
Cacodemon [Doom]
Ice Spice [Real Life]
Wigglytuff [Pokémon]
Group 3:
Matty Healy [Real Life]
Rita Repulsa [Power Rangers]
Ryo Yamada [Bocchi the Rock!]
Taylor Swift [Real Life]
Group 4:
Divatox [Power Rangers]
The Hunter [Enter the Gungeon]
Ray William Johnson [Real Life]
Generally speaking, Ryo Yamada preferred her own company over the presence of being around other people.
Back in Tokyo, she'd make up outlandish excuses to avoid any social activities with classmates that involved going outside. Even when her friends in Kessoku Band would hang out together, she'd avoid going most of the time, if only for more solitude. Her aloof and mysterious persona made her look tactless to those who didn't know her, but she wasn't bothered. If it repelled normies, it was fine.
Though, she tended to attract weirdness as an unintended side-effect. This time, that weirdness was off the scales.
Alongside others, she found herself lost in an infinite Swedish furniture store, surrounded by simplistic couches, wooden shelves, and dining tables amongst other things. The group she was stuck with consisted of herself, two American musicians, and an evil witch named Rita Repulsa who wielded a giant, long, crescent moon staff. Out of all her temporary companions, the latter was the strangest.
She sighed. If it weren't for Rita and the cool staff she held, she would've ditched them ages ago. But her fascination with the object won out, and she plotted to steal it in due time. For now, she was going to tag along, all while waiting to get that opportunity.
"Okay my loyal minions," Rita Repulsa proudly announced, holding up her crescent staff for show, "We're lost but this shouldn't stop us from our conquest to rule the universe. And as long as the Power Rangers aren't here, this puny IKEA world will soon be ours to rule!"
She laughed and gloated heavily as the rest of the group stared at her like she had a screw loose.
"Yeah whatever," Taylor Swift grumbled, not even bothering to hide her annoyance, "You already told us how much you hate the Power Rangers like 22 times. And you're talking about a furniture store. That's not exactly impressive."
Rita Repulsa gasped in shock, "How dare you!!! Are you questioning my power?? You better watch your mouth missy, before I destroy you myself. I'm not afraid of your yellow prissy hair and your ugly boyfriend!"
"Girls, can we just stop this arguing before we actually kill each other?" Matty Healy, the only male in this group pleaded. He was playing peacemaker with a stern look on his face.
Rita pouted and folded her arms, "Fine!"
Taylor Swift smirked with a smug victorious look; the same one she always had whenever she got away with something bad such as using her private jet to discharge thousands of carbon into the atmosphere.
"So… Rita…" Ryo Yamada piped in to fill in the silence, "How much do you want for the staff?"
"What?" Rita snapped, "It's mine!"
Taylor Swift glared at Ryo, "You just want it so you can use it for your indie band. Spoiler alert: your band will still suck."
"First off, we're a J-Rock band," Ryo corrected calmly, "And secondly, your music is for normies so already I can disregard your opinion."
"Why am I not in this conversation?" Rita shouted, "Your music sucks compared to my singing!"
"Can we please just focus?" Matty spoke up, before the situation escalated any further, "Let's just keep walking in one direction, we're bound to bump into something eventually."
Rita huffed and turned to her group, "Okay, but I'm warning you all, if you ever cross me, you're going to regret it."
Ryo snorted. "Whatever. Just try me."
Matty shook his head, and looked to the other two, "If we're done, let's get moving. For from what I can see so far, I don't think this is an ordinary IKEA store."
"Lead the way, minion!" Rita barked an order.
Matty sighed and walked ahead, leading the group through the endless Swedish furniture store. This was potentially a long trip.
Several kilometres away from their position, two others found themselves in a very similar situation.
For Ice Spice, the last thing she expected the stairs to lead to was a place filled with couches, bedrooms, and other bits of furniture, stretching an infinite amount of space. She had half-expected some hellish nightmarescape filled with flaming infernos, screaming souls, and boiling lava. Instead, she and Wigglytuff found themselves smack dab in the middle of the infamous furniture store, IKEA.
The rapper looked around with a mixture of awe and horror, taking the sights of the place. She was perplexed at the enormity of it all. Scattered across the floor were beds, coat racks, shelves, and all sorts of other furniture one might find in IKEA. Everything felt like they were placed randomly, as if designed to confused an ordinary customer. But nothing about this IKEA was ordinary. The other thing Ice Spice noticed was that there was not a single sign of life in the store, including the staff members who'd be standing around helping stock up the store. There was a certain eeriness to it, as cheap elevator music played from the speakers throughout the store. Even the ceiling was unusually high and spacious, to the point where the top wasn't even visible. Without the lights hanging just metres above their heads, she would've assumed there wasn't any ceiling at all. On the floor, there were walkways but they weren't marked with arrows for direction, instead leading towards random paths.
"Wigglytuff?"
Ice Spice felt her Pokémon partner's hand on hers. The sudden physical contact brought her back to reality, and she turned to face the pink blob, finding herself staring in its large blue eyes. The Pokémon's expression was one of concern, clearly worried about her. Its usual innocent smile was replaced with a frown.
"Wigglytuff?" the Pokémon repeated, in a gentle but questioning tone.
Ice Spice didn't speak Pokémon, but she had a relatively good guess on what her companion was asking.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she responded, "It's just, it shouldn't take this long to find an exit in IKEA. But you know what? Maybe we're just not trying hard enough."
Wigglytuff nodded in understanding, still affectionately close to Ice Spice. They continued walking around the IKEA for an hour or two, trying to find the exit, but to no avail. What made the search especially uncomfortable was the complete lack of any human presence in the store, and the fact that the store was seemingly abandoned, yet felt brand new. Ice Spice had been in plenty of places, and she figured out quickly that this wasn't an ordinary IKEA but never has she ever seen a place this empty… or uncomfortably quiet. The whole experience was surreal.
"Hey, Wigglytuff," Ice Spice said, as they walked through the endless hallway, "Where do you think everybody at IKEA is?"
"Wiggly?" Wigglytuff responded, confused.
She looked at Wigglytuff and sighed, "I don't understand a single thing you're saying."
The rest of their walk was mostly done in silence, with the occasional muttering from Ice Spice herself. It didn't take long for both of them to grow tired of walking and choose to stop in a section surrounded by random sofas and armchairs, a sight that was welcomed by them. Ice Spice sat herself down on one of them and relaxed as she leaned against the back of the couch and looked up at the ceiling, still unable to see the top. But then…
"Wigglytuff, no!"
It was too late. The Wigglytuff jumped up on her lap which earned a small protest from her which soon was replaced with a satisfied moan. Despite its size, the Pokémon was surprisingly light and it didn't feel like she was being squished.
It actually felt kind of relaxing.
With the Wigglytuff now on her lap, Ice Spice closed her eyes, and began to think about her current situation. She was in the middle of IKEA that was strangely devoid of life and logic. The layout of the store seemed to have no rhyme or reason to it, stretching out for miles than what a usual IKEA would entail. And the weirdest part was that she was accompanied by a Wigglytuff. But though they had not met a human soul, she couldn't shake off the feeling that they were being watched.
A chill ran down her spine. Ice Spice shuddered and closed her eyes, trying to shake away the weirdness she was feeling. But her mind instantly drifted towards a certain bumpy red demon, and wondered if it followed them here as well.
The cacodemon floated up and around through the IKEA store like a drone, observing the interior from above. This particular store was a very strange place indeed. They were used to places that housed hellish horrors and nightmares that tortured the living, but this place was nothing like that. There wasn't a single hint of pain or suffering anywhere in the store, other than the mild inconvenience of being stuck in IKEA.
The cacodemon was so disgusted with the IKEA that it failed to notice a red energy beam shot straight at it, hitting it in the face. The blast knocked the cacodemon right out of the air and into a shelf of beds and mattresses.
It struggled to get up, feeling itself to be significantly weakened from the blow. It groaned, as it looked around, trying to find the source of the attack. As it did, it didn't see the pair of sinister eyes partially covered by a golden headpiece staring with malicious intent.
"Well, well, well, what do we have here?"
The cacodemon gulped, still powerless and unable to move. Its attacker stepped out from the shadows of the IKEA shelf, revealing herself to be a woman with a partially revealing outfit.
"Another useless creature to destroy," Divatox grinned evilly. She paused for a moment to turn around, and noticed a red-shirted man and a caped woman walking by, "Ugh, there they are. I'll need to follow them later."
She turned back to the cacodemon and opened her big mouth, revealing her long lizard tongue.
"But right now, I need to have dinner."
The last thing Cacodemon saw was her mouth.
"Um, hello?"
A voice broke through Ice Spice's thoughts and she sat up quickly, almost falling off the sofa. She looked around behind her and saw two others, a woman and a man, who looked surprised themselves.
"Oh, thank god you're not one of those weird monsters just wondering around!" one of the strangers said, his face relaxing slightly.
Ice Spice stared at the pair and observed them carefully. The man looked about middle-aged and wore a red casual shirt while the other was a dark-skinned woman wearing a yellow cape over the top of a grey tank top. They were both standing in front of her and Wigglytuff, a wave of relief washing over them.
The man in particular was particularly excited to see Wigglytuff. He smiled in delight as he patted its head gently and gave it a few affectionate rubs on the tuft of its fur, eliciting a few happy squeaks from the Pokémon.
"Wait… oh my god! You have a Wigglytuff!" the man exclaimed, "I can't believe I am touching one right now!"
The new woman on the other hand was more cautious and withdrawn than her companion. She smiled warmly at Wigglytuff, but didn't try to make contact with it. Her attention was elsewhere, as she kept scanning the store with an almost paranoid gaze. It wasn't long until her eyes were diverted onto Ice Spice with a puzzled expression.
She was equally as puzzled too, and wanted to know who they were.
"Who are you two?" Ice Spice questioned.
The male stopped playing with the Wigglytuff, and turned his head to her, "My bad. I'm Ray William Johnson," he introduced himself. He pointed to the woman next to him with his thumb, "And this is… well she doesn't have a real name."
"Just call me The Hunter," the woman replied, albeit coldly, "I've long forgotten my true name."
"A stage name then? Neat." Ice Spice commented, "Everybody just calls me Ice Spice and honestly it just sticks y'know? I don't like using my real name as well."
Ice Spice found herself smiling back at the two strangers. She was relieved that they weren't the only ones stuck in this place. Just maybe, she could figure out a way out of this mess and nightmare.
"So, you wouldn't happened to know where exactly we are? Or how we might get out of here?" Ice Spice asked.
"No," Ray replied, much to her dismay, "We've been searching this whole place for an exit, but all we see are the same couches and carpets on display. I'm guessing you haven't either."
"Wiggly…" the Wigglytuff said in a downtrodden tone.
"That's a nope from both of us," Ice Spice replied, "I swear an IKEA this large shouldn't even exist. Heck, the Wigglytuff next to me shouldn't even be here."
"And yet, here we are," Ray finished her sentence, "And don't get me started on the creatures in IKEA uniforms roaming the store."
Ice Spice raised a brow, "Wait, creatures? We haven't seen any yet."
Ray and The Hunter exchanged glances.
"Yeah, they just walk around at random, not even responding to our voices or anything. Hunter over there suggested we tried watching one of them but they have no pattern."
"Wiggly wiggly wigglytuff!"
The three humans looked at Wigglytuff, who was pointing to something in the distance. They turned their heads to look at whatever the Pokémon was pointing at, and sure enough, they found two of the IKEA creatures walking mindlessly. The uniform they were wearing was nothing out of the ordinary, donning yellow striped shirts and blue trousers, consistent with the employee uniform. However, it became clear that their bodily anatomy was inhuman. They were tall and lanky, with freakish proportions. Their flat and expressionless faces had no eyes or other normal facial features and it was as if they were completely unaware of what they were doing. Their arms were too long for their body, hanging at a bizarre angle as if their bones were made of rubber.
"Oh there's some of them," Ray casually pointed out.
Chills ran down Ice Spice's spine and she couldn't take her eyes off them.
"The hell are those things?" she asked, unable to contain her disgust, "That is fucked."
"No idea but I feel much more comfortable staying away from them," Ray responded, "We should move together as a group of four. Unless you want to keep staring at them."
"There's no way in Cardi B you're leaving me alone in IKEA," Ice Spice immediately shot back.
Ray let out a chuckle and The Hunter showed a small grin.
"Then let's get going!"
"Wiggly!"
Two hours passed and Ryo's group were no closer to finding the exit in the cursed IKEA, having walked past the same pieces of furniture for a while now. They were in one of the bedroom compartments of the store, opting to take a rest after they accidentally bumped into another person. Though, the person in question had been one of the IKEA monsters and not a human. It was obvious when they saw it had no face.
Ryo stood up close, staring at the strange faceless uniformed creature that walked around randomly. It was completely unresponsive to her touches, but she kept poking it to keep bay her boredom.
Taylor Swift was next to her, less brave in her actions but watched it closely nonetheless, "Ugh that thing is so ugly, just like my ex-boyfriend Joe Alwyn," she moaned.
"Girls, I don't think it's alive," Matty Healy said, sitting on one of the many beds lying around on display. He looked at them with concern and worry written all over his face, "Can you just ignore them and rest up? Poking them isn't going to do anything… well I hope not anyw- Ryo, stop poking them!"
"Why? It's fun."
"You know what's fun?" Rita Repulsa interrupted, "Conquering the universe and getting rid of those pesky Power Rangers!"
"God, I wish I can rid of my management for making Cruel Summer a single," Taylor Swift said with a sigh, "They don't understand how much I love torturing my fanbase."
"For the love of The 1975, can we stop standing around and arguing around this stupid monster? Let's just try finding an exit again," Matty said, his frustrating growing.
"Fine, fine," Rita Repulsa agreed, "But first, I need to do something."
She charged her crescent moon staff with energy and pointed it at the monster. "DIE!"
The staff released a bright flash of energy that engulfed the creature in a bright blaze. The monster shrieked in pain, before it collapsed and exploded in a cloud of dust.
"Holy shit!" Matty yelled, jumping back in surprise, "Did you really have to do that?"
Rita Repulsa laughed evilly. "It was getting on my nerves and I needed target practice for when I destroy the Power Rangers!"
"Cool," Ryo said, impressed.
"Let's just go…"
And with that, the four of them got moving again. They walked across the store, each step forward feeling more like chore more than anything. It was quiet, yet they could hear the faint music playing through the store speakers. It was as if this strange place was holding its breath, waiting for time to stop. The group didn't speak to one another, and at times, it seemed like even the furniture laid out in the store was unnaturally sinister.
Occasionally, they would come across the IKEA not-quite-humans, docile and unresponsive to their presence. Their movement was random; with no rhyme or reason to their wandering. Ryo figured it was a metaphor for the 9-to-5 workers, though there was no good reason to share her thoughts out loud. They continued to trek through the IKEA, all mildly annoyed and bored when an unusual structure popped up in their field of view.
"Guys," Matty spoke up, breaking the silence, "I think I see something over there."
He pointed in the direction of the structure and the others followed his finger with their eyes.
"You're right, it looks man-made," Taylor commented.
Ryo took mental notes of the place, noting the distinct features. A massive wall made out of what she recognised as shelves surrounded the place, blocking off most access to it. There was a small gate that was closed that could provide entry but that wasn't the thing that concerned her. What was alarming about it all were the unusually high amount of IKEA staff randomly roaming around the perimeter. She didn't trust the idea of moving forward.
On the bright side, they were saved from their endless wondering. Even though it wasn't exactly an exit, it was certainly more unique than what they had saw over their journey.
"We're not going there." Ryo said coldly.
Sadly, she was outvoted 3-1 and reluctantly she went along with them once again. The rest of the group felt there might be answers hidden there, or at the very least some clues on how to escape the IKEA.
"Sorry Ryo," Matty said, leading the way, "I didn't take you as a risk-averse type but we're still checking it out."
"And we can turn this into our evil lair if this isn't the exit!" Rita cackled.
Ryo rolled her eyes at the both of them. She wasn't risk-averse at music but she certainly didn't want to risk dying. She had a very bad feeling about it.
No longer than a few seconds had passed and Ryo could also see something else on her horizon (or rather a few somethings). She squinted her eyes, trying to get a better look at the new figures coming into focus. They looked like another small group of four, heading in the same direction of the structure. She stared at them for a few seconds, noting their general appearances. Man, woman, another woman, Pokémon. Before she could look back, a couple of them turned their heads and noticed her group.
Ryo was ready to have a heart attack if they didn't have faces but thankfully, they possessed normal facial features. The man in the other group smiled and waved a hand up high, signalling a friendly hello to her. She returned his wave with a wave of her own.
Ryo breathed a sigh of relief as they inched ever so closer to the walls. Tension fell down a notch, and she began to feel slightly optimistic about their situation. Perhaps, they could exchange information together when the both make it.
But suddenly her face dropped and that relief turned into fear just as instantly.
The first row of lights starting going out.
"Wait, is that another group of people?" Ray asked. He pointed over to the side and waved to the blue-haired girl who waved back, "And they also look… normal?"
Ice Spice could see the group over in the distance as they continued to walk towards the unusual walled-off area. The four people she saw weren't wearing IKEA uniforms and weren't super deformed like the creatures they've encountered so far. She had a feeling that the group was like them, that they were probably here like they were, and that they were probably stuck here.
"Yes, I see them too," The Hunter replied, "They're heading towards the same place we're going towards. I really hope they have some weaponry in there at least."
"Wigglytuff!"
"Calm down there Wigglytuff," Ice Spice said, patting the Pokémon gently, "They look friendly and looks like there's a place up ahead where we might be able to rest. It's okay, we're safe."
Wigglytuff didn't look like it fully understood, but it nodded in response, content with the answer.
And then the furthest rows of lights started going out, before another. And another.
"Uh oh," Ray muttered his breath, "Shit..."
The four of them all looked up, and saw the distant lights in front of them rapidly turn off row by row. The darkness spread like a plague, devouring the light source of IKEA, leaving behind blackness in its wake. It crept across, getting closer and dimming the lights further and further away.
The bland elevator music that once blared through the speakers suddenly died out, replaced with eerie silence. The store turned deathly quiet, and there was a sense of paranoia that immediately loomed over it. The IKEA staff stopped moving as well, and their heads unnaturally rotated towards both groups. Fear was the dominant feeling in Ice Spice as the deformed IKEA staff made their way towards the group, now suddenly speaking yet without a mouth.
"The store is closed. Please leave the store," they said calmly yet their actions portrayed the opposite.
"Wigglytuff…"
Ice Spice could feel Wigglytuff inch closer to her. She wrapped an arm around its body, hugging it for comfort as she tried to process what was happening.
"We have to run, now!" The Hunter urgently shouted.
Ice Spice didn't need to be told twice. The four of them began to run, dashing past the disorganised arrangement of IKEA furniture and towards the unknown town in the distance. They could hear the creatures behind and around them, their feet thudding against the tiled floor while verbalising with polite voices that they needed to leave the store.
"Wiggly wiggly!"
Her body was still moving towards the exit but Ice Spice looked behind her and saw that the Wigglytuff was lagging behind. A scared and strained look was on its face, its blue eyes showing signs of panic. She knew it was going to get caught by the creatures if it didn't pick up pace soon. And more likely than not, they were going to rip Wigglytuff to shreds. She couldn't let anything happen to the Pokémon.
She had to do something drastic in the next few seconds.
Ice Spice noticed the other group of people also dashing towards the huge structure, with an equal amount of IKEA staff chasing them. From what she could glance at, one woman was drastically behind from the others, using some sort of beam to attack the creatures while attempting to catch up with her group. Up ahead in the pack were two individuals, a blue-haired girl and one ordinary middle-aged white guy, so far maintaining a decent lead from the creatures. They were the closest to the gate. Behind the pair, she saw a white blonde woman wearing a red dress. She recognised her almost immediately and had to swallow a little vomit back in her mouth.
Her name was Taylor Swift. She remembered her appearance all too well, especially with that red dress she was wearing. She used to be music industry friends with her, but once she invited her to rap in her latest single Karma, it peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. A total flop. How could Taylor do that to her? She also made Cruel Summer a single, and dated Matty Healy despite knowing his racist history.
A plan came into Ice Spice's mind as they all inched closer to the structure. It was the perfect distraction. She could easily cause her death: A crimson sacrifice of red. Bad blood was going to spilt.
She was going to choose Wigglytuff over that white blonde bitch.
She ran and veered slightly off course, diverting some of the attention from the freakish creatures away from the pink Pokémon (and by extension, the others). Ice Spice's intention was crystal clear. With her away from the others riding solo, she gradually made her way to the other group and set her eyes on the woman. She could feel the flames in her skin. Crimson red paint on her lips. It was her time to shine.
Ice Spice was going to something bad.
And it was going to feel so good.
She made eye contact with Taylor Swift, thinking of the most optimal way to sacrifice her for the greater good. There were various different ways Ice Spice thought to go about it. She could easily trip her over, push her aside, cause her to lose focus by claiming she didn't buy her songs on iTunes, it could be simple. But before she had the chance, the woman turned her glance and noticed Ice Spice.
Holy shit.
Ice Spice noticed the confusion in her eyes followed by amazement. They were still running but her presence alone made her just slightly sloppier and slower.
"Oh my god, Ice Spice?" Taylor panted sparingly, "What are you doing in IKEA?"
She frowned. It would've been so much easier to do it without her noticing but now she was going to have to do this the hard way. All this to save Wigglytuff.
"This, bitch," she grahhed.
Ice Spice swept her leg under Taylor, making her fall onto the cold hard ground. The monstrous IKEA staff noticed and shifted their attention on the fallen star. Taylor Swift screamed out in horror.
"That's what you get for letting Morgan Wallen cockblock me from #1 in the Billboard Hot 100," Ice Spice said angrily, "Did you really have to choose Karma over Cruel Summer or Bad Blood for me to rap over? You let Kendrick Lamar get a #1 but not me? And why did you make Cruel Summer a single without promoting Karma first?"
"B-but my label made me do it!" Taylor cried out in pain over the betrayal.
"Oh boo-fucking-who. Your Midnights album sucks anyway. It's no Future Nostalgia or SOUR. It's more of a BIONIC by Christina Aguilera."
"Who's Christina Aguilera?"
Those were Taylor Swift's last words ever spoken as she ran away from Taylor and towards the structure. She heard the monstrous IKEA humanoids turn their attention away from the others, instead focusing on the easy target that is Taylor Swift. She dared not look back, knowing she'd feel guilty for being directly responsible for her death. Taylor's cries of agony rang in her ear, followed by a gory death as the monsters ripped her apart. The sound made her sick to her stomach.
But then she remembered she owned a private jet so all that guilt washed away instantly.
Ice Spice looked back at her own group and saw that the Wigglytuff was still lagging behind, but there was less pressure. The staff were still approaching their targets, telling them that they had to leave IKEA though their numbers have dropped. The other two in her group, The Hunter and Ray William Johnson were close to the entrance of the town, and they shared a relieved look. They were going to be safe; they were going to be make it out of this situation.
And then, something caught her eye.
A red energy blast shot through and exploded into Ray William Johnson.
Rita Repulsa was pissed off for many reasons.
The first was because she was trapped in IKEA with a bunch of weak people who she is almost sure they were going to stab her in the back just like the countless times whenever she created an evil Power Ranger only for them to turn good. The second was that she wasn't spending time with her husband Lord Zedd, having the best Woohoo of their life together. The third was she wasn't anywhere closer to ruling the universe like she wanted to, especially when the Power Rangers were involved.
But all those reasons were overruled by the anger and hatred she felt in her veins for the person responsible for the death of someone equally evil as her: Taylor Swift.
She saw it with her own eyes, the horrible and barbaric way she made Taylor powerless, watching her squirm in pain as the monstrous IKEA staff killed her. She saw Matty turn around and cry out in anguish, his body wracked with grief.
"No, no, no, no, no, no!" he heard him scream, turning back and running towards her lifeless body, despite the numerous IKEA creatures crowding around it. Ryo groaned in response and chased after him, unable to persuade him to just push forward.
"That Ice Spice bitch pushed my girlfriend over," Matty shouted, "She's going to fucking pay!"
"I saw that but you're running into a death trap," Ryo said, "Get yourself together."
Matty Healy looked at her with tears in his eyes. He was about to retort when the IKEA staff appeared behind him, looming over the both of them with their hideous intent.
"Uh oh," Ryo muttered.
The creatures wasted no time and swung their limbs at both of them. Matty tried his best to dodge the attack but was unsuccessful and he got hit in the shoulder. Ryo yelped in surprise as she tried to fend them off, kicking and screaming to escape. It was useless, the creatures were too fast and strong. They lifted both her and Matty up in the air, causing them to scream in terror.
Rita Repulsa watched this all unfold from a distance and sighed. She had already gotten rid of all the IKEA staff around her with her staff but more were eventually going to come. However, one of her minions had already died and she didn't need another two to add to that. Rita felt a little drained from using so much magical energy, but she needed the remainder of her team alive. It was a miracle her crescent moon staff was still working, because she needed it more than ever.
Rita turned around to face the IKEA monsters wearing the same uniform, and charged up her crescent moon staff. She took a deep breath and released a powerful beam of energy, striking all the IKEA staff members around Matty and Ryo's immediate area. The creatures let out cries of pains and dropped to the ground, twitching in agony.
"Hahaha, take that you revolting freaks!" Rita shouted with delight.
But she wasn't done yet. She turned around and aimed at the group responsible, as they ran past her fallen teammate and towards the strange structure in the distance. Her staff glowed brightly, releasing a large red energy beam at the group of people, hoping to destroy all of them.
Rita raised her staff again and pointed at the group. "DIE!"
It barely missed but the impact of her beam managed to have an effect on the red-shirted man in the group. He got knocked back and collapsed on the ground, his body limp and unmoving. The rest of the group looked back and watched as the IKEA staff stopped chasing them and instead focusing their attention on the man on the ground.
She was about to fire another staff at the three survivors but before she could fire, she saw Matty and Ryo run another direction away from the structure. She groaned, feeling incredibly weakened.
"What are you doing?" Rita asked angrily, "We're so close to the entrance!"
"The other group is closer," Matty replied, noting the remainder of the other team safely make it inside, "They're not going to let us in. Fuck them anyway, we'll think of something else."
Rita glared at him. She knew Matty was a complete idiot and that he witnessed Taylor Swift get brutally murdered but this was the worst decision he's ever seen him make. But she had no other choice.
"Fine, we're doing this your way," Rita groaned in defeat.
"K," Ryo shrugged.
The three of them abandoned their plan towards the structure, instead venturing further into the unknown dark of the infinite IKEA.
"Ignore him, just focus on survival," Ice Spice heard the Hunter say.
They found themselves running through the almost blackened IKEA store, the only source of light dying rapidly above them. She estimated that they'd got less than a minute before they'd be completely in the dark. Her heart was racing and her legs aching as she sprinted. It was getting hard to tell where the furniture was, and even harder to tell what was near them. Ice Spice didn't dare look back and see how many were still pursuing them.
The three of them were exhausted and breathless, running for their lives through this nightmare of a store. It was a miracle they haven't tripped or stumbled over anything. They could barely see in front of them but it didn't matter. They had to keep going towards the structure.
"Oh god, we're here," Ice Spice gasped.
They made it to the structure where a large gate made out of dining tables stood between them and safety. But the three of them looked at each other, and knew that the creatures were close by. Thankfully, the gate slowly opened, letting the three of them pass through without incident. They ran in and slammed the gate behind them, hoping to give them some time to rest.
"Shit, that was close," Ice Spice said, panting heavily.
Wigglytuff let out a loud sigh and leaned on the ground, unable to catch its breath. Ice Spice patted its head and rubbed its belly like a dog, which the Pokémon gladly accepted.
"So, what is this place anyway?"
Ice Spice took a moment to take in her surroundings, fear swiftly washed away by relief as she looked at the interior of the structure. The three of them were standing in what looked like a common area of sorts. There were makeshift buildings made out of shelves and curtains along with a bunch of other furniture they didn't even know the name of. A few people stood here and there, mostly young adults but they all shared the same look of curiosity and intrigue in their eyes.
A man stood before them and eyed them with concern and worry, "Hello there, I'm Agent Fredricks, and you're in the SCP Foundation outpost of SCP-3008-1. I need your help to rescue someone inside SCP-1357."
From a distance, Divatox watched the two groups rush towards the structure. She grinned evilly, knowing that Ray William Johnson and another woman was dead. Now, all she had to do was kill the last of her targets, the Hunter. She reminded Divatox of the Yellow Ranger, and she wanted to kill her just as much as the original.
For now, she needed a way to get inside the structure.
Group 3 Survivors:
Matty Healy [Real Life]
Rita Repulsa [Power Rangers]
Ryo Yamada [Bocchi the Rock!]
Group 2+4 Survivors:
Ice Spice [Real Life]
Wigglytuff [Pokémon]
The Hunter [Enter the Gungeon]
Divatox [Power Rangers]
Dead:
Cacodemon [Doom]
Taylor Swift [Real Life]
Ray William Johnson [Real Life]
Notes:
I'm so happy I wrote over 6,000 words for this even though I was meant to write way less. This took some planning on what I wanted to do plot-wise as well as try and figure out the character dynamics of each group. It was especially hard to try and pad out the story to figure out how to cause conflict. In the end, I just choose to keep it somewhat simple and just have them race for one of the IKEA towns.
Now onto some character comments. For those familiar with The Hunter from Enter the Gungeon, you will have noticed that she has not been given a weapon yet, but rest assured that she will obtain one soon. For the other characters that aren't real life figures, I tried my best to make sure they weren't OoC. That is, I tried to make the Power Ranger villains snarky, Ryo aloof and a bit of a troll, and Wigglytuff... well a Pokémon. In regards to Taylor Swift, two things happened to her whilst I was writing this chapter: she broke up with Matty Healy and made Cruel Summer a single. So that threw a wrench in my Matty x Taylor OTP plan. So might as well kill one of them lol.
Other than that, the strawpoll winners for the last few chapters were Wigglytuff, Ryo, and The Hunter so they were guaranteed to survive this chapter. Also, I'm going to clean up the chapter titles a little bit (make them less confusing), and some other things as well. Anyways, here's the strawpoll for this chapter. Remember, only the most voted character gets immunity next round: https://strawpoll.com/PKgl3w4YEnp
smarshall on Chapter 1 Sat 13 May 2023 04:25PM UTC
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