Frenzy (REBOOT) (Pokémon Danganronpa)

Chapter 48: Depression

LUSTER'S POV

We had been walking for quite some time now. The path ahead never seemed to get any shorter, but what could I have expected? Occasionally we would reach a very long stairway up a couple of feet, but the walk would always continue with a long hallway littered with doors.

"This is a different path..." Vince muttered lowly.

"That's because this is the real exit." Sammy replied. "The exit you were heading towards was only going to lead towards a large storage unit."

"Great..." Zantai sarcastically remarked before crossing his arms. "Such a long path though, did you guys always have to take this?"

"I'll be honest, I haven't been here in years." Sammy exhaled, I could hear her frown from here.

"How come?" Grace turned to look up at the monotone Braixen.

"We never leave this cage; everything we need to survive is already here and being transferred to us by our staff." Sammy took a weirdly long breath before continuing. "It was Sam's idea to set a bunch of traps in case any of you guys escaped...I can only imagine it worsened after Zantai and Vince's attempt."

"So that's why she spared them..." I hummed lightly in realization. "She was impressed with their attempt and instead upped her security."

"Precisely, she only saw it as a game for you to challenge her cage's technology." The Braixen shook her head. "No matter, we're almost towards the main exit vault. Once we reach that door is when you'll have to watch out for those traps I mentioned."

The walk here was a lot longer than I had expected. Even more surprising, it felt like every hallway here had a long row of doors to accompany it. Are there really that many rooms here? Is every one of them being utilized or are they just empty rooms? It can't be just Sam and Sammy working here, there should be a lot of staff involved for a big project like this. How do they even profit from this?

Once the next flight of stairs arrived I could hear a resounding sigh emanate from the group. We didn't complain much, especially since I was the one still carrying Loki on my back, and whatever led us to the exit was only temporarily trivial. Luckily, most of us were physically fit, so we climbed the steps quickly and finally arrived at the top. On the other side was a rather empty room and a large vault door that resembled one of a safe.

"This is it?" Vince uttered with a small scoff. "Very over-the-top."

"She had to keep you guys in somehow." Sammy shrugged and trudged up to a small keypad next to the steel door. "Let me see if I can remember the code."

"Make sure a wrong attempt won't kill us." Rayne narrowed her eyes towards the vixen.

"I remember Sam purposefully did not do that because she too forgets." The Braixen turned to smile reassuringly at the Manectric.

"'Too'? You mean you don't remember." Zantai crossed his arms.

"Give her a break." I quickly replied. "It's a miracle she's even willing to help us, let alone remember a code she hasn't used in years."

"Right, my bad." The Blaziken heaved a small exhale and pressed his back up against an empty wall. "I'm just so tired, I want to get out."

"We all do." Laker cleared his throat and pointed a claw at the fire bird. "We're not done yet, though. Knowing Sam there's some bullshit on the other end."

Something told me Sammy wouldn't take long to figure out the code, so I turned cautiously to watch the flight of stairs we had just climbed. I could very faintly see the other end—this area of the cage was very dimly lit, almost as if no one ever entered here. It's as Sammy mentioned, there's no reason for them to leave...except for the fact that there is. Don't they have a family? Don't they want to smell the real fresh air?