[From here.]

Judging from that announcement, the man who had spoken was not the general himself. Whoever that was had spoken about the general as if it was another person, so who did that make him? Was he just one of the officers? And if so, what made him so important that he got to make the announcements? These were the thoughts running through Sora's head as he moved from his own hallway into the one that would take him out of the block.

He was sure that more and more would be explained as the night went by -- or in the morning, if they really wanted to make them wait that long. But if crazy stuff was going to be happening tonight, then someone was probably going to chime in on the intercom.

Then again, could Sora even assume that much? Everything might work differently now that Landel was gone. Those same patterns didn't have to be followed. It was definitely disorienting.

Though one thing that hadn't changed was the layout of the building. (And he certainly hoped that didn't happen again.) The boy headed right for the door, knowing his way to the stairs like the back of his hand by this point. He might as well have been sleepwalking.

[To here.]

Having to endure an empty room for yet another night had Sora worried. Were they not planning to give him a new roommate? He didn't know how these soldier people worked -- would they rather that patients were left in their rooms alone? That didn't make much sense, but he really didn't know what to expect anymore.

Most people would have been glad to have a room to themselves, but Sora wasn't most people. He wanted someone there who he could talk things over with while he ate his dinner. Instead, he had eaten his meal in silence, still reeling from the announcement that Landel was being replaced. It was something he would have preferred to discuss with someone else rather than dwell on alone, but he could always do that when he met up with Kairi and Riku.

That was the one good thing he had going for the moment; Sora was glad that the three of them were going to be side-by-side once more. He was particularly interested in hearing what Kairi had to say, since she'd also been here for a long time.

His dinner was interrupted by IRIS coming on, and Sora frowned when the automated voice became distorted once more. A program was being initiated? What did that mean?

He'd expected for IRIS to continue through the whole night, but soon after that a more human voice was heard. But even as Sora tried to place it, he realized that it was new, totally different from Landel's usual loud tone. But there was still a threat in those words, still a hint that something was going to happen tonight. Sora had already counted on that. With everything that had happened, how couldn't there be?

He just hoped that he and his friends could manage to get somewhere even with the odds stacked against them. Sora quickly changed from his Landel's uniform into his more familiar clothes from home and then grabbed for his flashlight (while also remembering to take Venom's copied note at the last moment; he wanted Kairi to see it too).

Once he was ready, he quietly moved out of his room and headed down the hall.

[To here.]

(From here.)

Touya felt a little sick as the feeling of distinct disorientation set in. It was the same feeling he'd felt during the night when the doors all led to different places (or at least similar to it--he felt pretty damn disoriented).

He straightened up and looked back for Yue and Sakura, to make sure they were still there. But were they still there because they had been together during that night, or because they had been in the same room? Once he had a handle on where he was and Yue and Sakura's state, he took a look at the ring. The stone was gone. He remembered something about replacing it, but he'd get to that soon enough.

"We were here before," Touya said, looking around at spindly shapes formed by dark shadows of furniture and kitchenware.

[Currently M36]

Touya had thought that the last vestiges of his exhaustion due to the drain of his power had all but vanished, but apparently it had made one last stand. Touya awoke briefly when his nurse had brought in dinner, the last thing he remembered being talking with Yue in the hall.

Talking with Yue in the hall?! He sat up abruptly, noting the meal left on his desk and groaning. So he had slept through the entire day and no doubt both Yue and Yuki (possibly Sakura as well, though she didn't come out of her room very often really) were petrified that something had happened to him. They always met for lunch, after all.

Way to be, Kinomoto, he thought crossly. He'd decided that the best move now was just to get the last vestiges of this exhaustion out of his system, then go to meet Yuki right after the doors unlocked.

Which would have been a great plan, if he hadn't slept through the doors unlocking as well.

[M37]

Another night like this, huh?

Dinner had been quiet enough, with Riku poking at his meal and wondering if Battler was some guy who just liked to sleep at that time of the day. It was two nights in a row now that Battler was passed out, but he saw him around from time to time in the day, so he knew that something terrible couldn't have been wrong. It occurred to him to grab the other guy's shoulder and jerk him awake, but he decided against it. Maybe he got hurt at some point and was trying to keep that to himself. Or maybe he just didn't want to deal with the small talk that could occur over a plate of food. It didn't matter in the long run.

After all, it wasn't like Riku had much to say. Yeah, I didn't do anything last night. That would go over well.

Landel's announcement kicked him into gear, though. Tonight, he and his friends would do something. The what or how was still up in the air, but he'd still try. He grabbed his flashlight and checked the desk to find a ring sitting there. Why he got one, he didn't know, but he realized that maybe Naminé couldn't use it like he could. Then again, chances were that someone like Sora would get one. He was the type to always end up with things like that. But then again, maybe that Neku guy got it instead, and if that was the case, maybe he could be useful for once. Getting back to the electronics store wouldn't be entirely useful, but they could explore the town without the nurses watching them. Sure, there were zombies, but other things could be found there, right?

Then again, that was only if Sora and Kairi didn't get rings. Chances were, one of the two did, right? They were both people of light, and they deserved something like that—even if it was a gift from someone he didn't particularly like.

Riku held the ring within his hand, clutched his flashlight, and started out into the hall. Maybe Battler would get the hint and wake up. Who knew. It wasn't his problem. He needed to find his friends, and maybe tonight, they really would get something done.

[to here]

[from here]

Almost by instinct, Sakura took off her shoes and shouted, "I'm home!" as she entered through the door of the Kinomoto residence. However, she stopped as she remembered where she had just been and where she had been for the past week. Was it really her home? It wasn't some sort of illusion right? It wasn't a dream right? They were really back home again?

As she traveled over to the dry erase board to touch it and make sure it was real, she realized that she was not longer wearing the ugly institute uniform but rather her own house clothing. Everything felt so real, so it must have been right? No... Syaoran had seemed just as real last week and turned out to be a fake. There had to be another way to check if they were really home.

At that moment, Sakura realized something which had been missing for the past week was hanging around her neck once more. Ruffling through her clothing, she pulled out the pendant which extended into her magical wand. How did she get that back? That was something that wasn't easily replicable, but if that was back, perhaps that meant... The young girl reached into her pocket and pulled out the deck of magical Sakura cards which she had collected and transformed over the past few years. These were definitely unreplicable, so that meant...

Sakura looked back at the boys and said in disbelief, "Onii-chan... Yue-san... I think we're home."

[from here]

Yue had expected to see another room at the Institute when they walked through the door -- one, perhaps, that he hadn't been in before, but still somewhere that was easily recognized as being part of the building. He had certainly not expected to walk into a shop that he recognized from Doyleton, with the sound of the storm raging directly overhead instead of being muffled by thick walls. If he hadn't already realized that the doors were dropping them in places other than where they were intended to go this would have been a very, very clear sign.

"Doyletown," he observed, probably unnecessarily, but the way his wings flexed and folded restlessly was a clear sign of his agitation. The last time they'd been in town at night it had been a distinctly unpleasant experience, and he had no reason to believe it would be different this time. At least at the moment there was no sign of ravenous undead, though there were undoubtly all manner of unpleasant creatures lurking around here somewhere. "We should go."

There could be something useful in the store; if they crafted furniture here, as he vaguely recalled from Yukito's wandering around the place, there could be tools that would work as weapons. But would it be worth the risk of lingering? He thought not.

[from here]

Even though she had been expecting a different room, Sakura still couldn't help but feel amazed once she stepped through the door and showed up someplace else. Although the tile colors were different, Sakura recognized the general layout of the showers. If she was interested in showering tonight, this would have been a lucky coincidence, but from her recollection, the showers were on the first floor, meaning that they were actually much farther from their goal than before.

She looked up at her brother and Yue. "Well, what do we do now?" she asked in a worried tone. It seemed like they were going to have a hard time getting where they wanted with all the doors acting strangely. Was there any way they could avoid being taken someplace randomly, or were they going to have to keep trying their luck and hope that they were eventually taken to the room of their choice?

(From here.)

Touya stepped through the door and stopped. He'd been in quite a few closets in his time of various kinds, and this was not a closet. Not unless Landel started storing couches and paintings of puppies in his closets. Did he take a wrong turn?

He turned to look outside the door, maybe check the plate on the front, but it slammed shut as Yue walked through. Dumbfounded and disoriented, Touya struggled for something to say.

"Uh..."

That was about all he had.

[portaled from here]

Without questioning why Zero had bothered to move ahead of them in the first place, Heat instantly took up the lead again when asked. He opened the door he was shown to, stepping inside... to find himself in a room with several strange machines and a weird odor - some sort of odd chemical and fabric?

The shift had been disorienting, and that put him on edge. Walking through a doorway shouldn't create such a detached feeling. And oddly enough, looking back at the door, it didn't look quite like the one he'd just opened. Or perhaps that was just a trick of the lighting.

He didn't understand where this was, why Zero would lead him here or why this girl would be kept there, but his job wasn't to ask questions. It was possible that these box-like devices were cells of some sort. A small girl might be able to fit inside of one easily. They'd just have to search each one until they found the one they were looking for. The demon glanced back to his leader for further instructions.

"Sir?"

[from here]

Kurogane couldn't tell how long it would be before he would begin seeing other patients about, however if the hallways continued to be empty for too long he would have to start becoming suspicious. There was no chance that he was the only patient in the place, yet the moment the thought crossed his mind, he couldn't ignore the potential that the building had for messing with them. Whatever magic was involved here could manage something that could make it seem like there wasn't anyone else around.

He was overthinking things now. Anywhere else and he'd have been able to handle things like this, but not here. Landel had managed too much. Had Kurogane not wanted to kill the bastard, he might have commended the guy for it. Maybe.

[gone here]

Meche couldn't remember the last time she'd had her nails done, if ever--it definitely would have been a long while even before the last time she'd had nails. Today was turning into the day for those kinds of things, it seemed like.

The salon was only about a block from the bookstore, so luckily she managed to stay pretty dry on the run over. Meche closed the door firmly behind her and smiled at the woman who rushed from the back to meet her. "Hi, I'm meeting a friend here," she explained, and sat down in the nearest chair to wait.

[for Donna]

He would have stayed outside all day if it wasn't for the rain. The hood could keep a drizzle away, but the light shower that was now falling over the town could not be warded off by a simple shield over his face and now he was seeking shelter. Shelter and food, really. Despite the strange feeling he'd had since last night, he was still hungry and the town afforded him a better menu from which to choose. The heavy grease and Western meals of the Institute often sat poorly with him and in all the times he'd been to this town before, he'd come to realize that one place in particular had food he could stomach - or at least new desserts he could try in lieu of real food.

Jogging along the road - Wicker Street apparently - Okita bypassed several stores and ignored nurse warnings that he should head inside immediately in favor of getting into the Twin Pines restaurant. The articles taped to the front windows were obscured today by spots of rainwater and Okita had little care for what they said anyway. He'd read them once in passing, something about frying steaks that left him wondering why these people weren't twice their normal size if that was what they considered good food.

Shaking the water off his coat, Okita bowed his head to the dour looking waiters and the tired looking staff before taking a seat. The coupon said he could get a free lunch and while the staff seemed less than happy to see patients coming in (considering they used to be dead, Okita was equally disturbed to see them up and behind the food counters), they were obligated to serve him. They did, however, make sure he felt every bit of that obligation as they set a menu in front of him without so much as a friendly word of welcome. The swordsman didn't mind though, smiling at the girl regardless before he began searching the menu for something he could stomach.

[for Tenzen]

Scott wasn't really what one would call the sporty type, at least not currently. In the past, maybe. He could have called himself a hockey player at one point - in grade two (it totally counted). And he had been a jock in high school, hadn't he (he had at least played a lot of Track & Field for the NES, anyway)? Regardless of what his athletic status may or may not have been, sports weren't really what the Scott Pilgrim of nowadays was associated with. He was a fighter, not a lover sports guy. Still, he was surprisingly excited to be going out to the Rec Field. Maybe he wouldn't get any games on, but he could still work off those pesky bullet wounds, right?

He walked as fast as the crutch would let him despite the protests of his nurse and his injured limbs. His hand could grip just well enough to keep the crutch steady under his right arm (gravity did most of the work), and he was thus able to keep a good pace. "All right, not doing bad so far," Scott said to himself with a grin as he hobbled quickly across the field, heading for the goalposts on the far end. He had worked up a surprisingly steady stride by the time he got close to them. Crutch forward, then left leg swung out in front of it. Crutch, leg, crutch, leg, crutch, leg. Nothing to it! Sure, his shoulder was hurting like burning. Sure, his right leg was still giving him similar pain on a smaller scale despite not having weight put on it. Sure, his animal brain was constantly shouting, "WHY WON'T YOU STOP?!" Other than that, though, he was a-okay. He was determined to be. Otherwise, it was Game Over, wasn't it?

Soon he reached the goalposts and stopped, much to the relief of his limbs. He hadn't really gone to this spot for any specific reason. He had just wanted to prove to himself that he wasn't that hampered by his injuries. For now, he seemed to have made a good case for the affirmative on that point. He knew that he couldn't just stop at moving forward, though. He had to see how good he was going to be at fighting in this condition. How was his moveset going to be modified with a crutch added and an arm taken away? That was the million dollar ($1176470.59 CDN) question, wasn't it?

He tried something simple to start - a standing kick with his good leg. He quickly raised his left leg while leaning his armpit against the crutch, lightly touching the goalpost with the sole of his foot. Nothing bad so far. He did the same thing again, only harder. A small wave of pain shot from one leg to the other, causing him to wobble on his crutch a bit. Scott grit his teeth, not liking that result at all. This time he decided to try a small jump kick, just to spite that stupid injury. After backing up a good few inches, he pushed both feet off the ground. "Hiiiiya!" With the end of his crutch still on the ground, he gave himself a bit of extra momentum, letting it fling him toward the goalpost with his left leg outstretched.

One didn't have to be able to predict the future to know what that the result of that was going to be. Foot connected hard with goalpost. Rebound pushed him back against the crutch. Center of gravity over the crutch shifted too far back. Pain shot through both his legs and his injured arm again. This and the gravity shift caused him to let go of the crutch entirely. Body flew back over the crutch and crashed on the ground slightly behind it. Bum (among other things) ended up stinging and covered in grass stains.

"Owwwwww," Scott groaned to himself, fumbling for the crutch. It was in an awkward position, just beyond the reach of his good arm. ". . . Well, could've gone worse, I guess," he told himself as he used his left foot to start pushing the crutch back toward his hand.

[For Keman at first, then Peter and Indy later.]

Once again the doors had opened. Cloud believed most of what Yuffie had told him, but it was still unreal the way this place operated. They were clearly being tested, mocked, or both with the nightly routine, yet they didn't have many other options but to take the chances they were given.

Still unarmed, but hopefully ready to deal with anything, the blond nodded a goodbye to his roommate before stepping out into the hall with nothing but his flashlight. Yuffie's room was in the single female block, which was on the other side of the block he was currently in. It wouldn't take long to get there, but knowing that creatures could attack the patients even within the patient block caused him to keep his guard up right from the start.

[to here]

Emmett left his room empty handed again. It was tougher navigating without a flashlight, but it felt more comfortable. Especially with what he was going to have to do.

Outside seemed like his best bet for hunting. The dogs that attacked them last night didn't exactly smell fresh, but their blood was slightly more appetizing-- and much more likely to be digested by his system than the human food that kept being shoved in his face. Unfortunately there was also the chance that he wouldn't be able to find a semi-living, warmblooded animal out there again. Apparently there had been some Night of the Living Dead theme going on recently. So who knew, maybe it was going to be Swampthing or Frankenstein night-- he did hear that nutjob mention some bullshit like that. If that was the case then his natural prey couldn't be ruled out as an option.

He kept to the wall as he walked down the hallway. It was still early and relatively quiet. Feeding on someone he didn't know was definitely way better than attacking a friend, he was sure the others would agree...

[[from here]]

While the transition from night to morning wasn't usually so abrupt, he fully expected to wake up tucked into his bed the following morning. Instead, he woke to hard-packed earth and sand against his cheek. He startled up into a sitting position, momentarily blinded by the bright light streaming in from above in the huge room he'd woken up in.

There wasn't an exit, as far as he could tell. The walls around him rose up high and gave him an uncomfortable feeling of nostalgia. Being trapped with insurmountable walls on every side was enough to make him hug his coat closer around him despite the room's average temperature. Everything felt so surreal, he supposed it could all be a waking dream, but somehow that didn't feel right either. Several yards away, someone else was stirring. Yue? Where were Sakura and Touya then? Above the walls, too high for any normal person to climb, were what looked like stands. Rows of seats above them. What was this place?

Aside from all that, his magic had returned, just as strong as ever. It'd been so faint before, it was almost overwhelming to have access to it now. That should be more than enough to send them all home, right? If that were even possible. It would be worth a try though, assuming he could find them all.

[from here]

The hallway beyond was dark, and not just ordinary darkness that one might expect when there was simply no light. This was unpleasant, oppressive darkness of the sort that only made Yue even more uneasy than he already had been just for the fact that they were in the basement of this bizarre place. He stepped forward cautiously, wondering at the faint whistling sound, but he couldn't hear anything else to indicate the presence of danger. Nor was there anything visible in the light cast from behind him.

There was only the strong, very strong feeling of wrongness and dangers unseen, and the guardian realized that he didn't want Sakura to be here. For that matter, he didn't want anyone to be here, but now that they were, was there anywhere to go but forward? He glanced back at the others, waiting for those with the lights to catch up, and frowned. "I don't like this," he observed, voice quiet.

[From here]

Tyki headed through the double doors into the next hallway, still not seeing anything or anyone around this place. The area was still as empty and boring as ever. He'd almost wish for the head doctor to switch around the lay-out of the place a bit, if only it weren't for the fact that figuring out what was where would be a real pain. Especially on the rare occasion he would need to be somewhere, and considering the guy's excellent sense of timing...

[To here]

[from here]
Oh, so this was the hall he needed to be in. At least, he was pretty sure it was the right place. If he remembered right, the man on the bulletin board talking about Search and Rescue, his name was Phillip Hunt. If there were only two people in a room, though, it shouldn't be too hard finding him.

Allen shone the flashlight up on the wall, following the numbers. M14, where was M14...

[moving down to here]