October 7th 2020
Prompt: First word you think of

Okay I'm sort of bending the rules of this one because both times I tried this I came up with hippopotamus and I really didn't want to write about that so I decided to do the other thing on my mind.
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  Feet slamming down on the metal floor.

  Beads of sweat spilling down his brow as he slid around the corner.

  He hoped and prayed that he wouldn't find him. A sense of fear and dread rose in his chest as he continued on. He was being chased. No-hunted! Mind whirling with the grief from his head companions. He knew they wouldn't have been able to stick it out for long. There always is a grim ending but he couldn't help but wish and hope that maybe just maybe he could pull through.

   He saw a flash do something. Suddenly he was off, sprinting through the halls as fast as he could. But he always finds a way. That's how he managed to twist their minds. Harness their souls and trick them into falling into his fatal trap.

  His hunter had disappeared. If that had even been his hunter. Everyone had worn masks of innocence. That's how they all ended up dead. Someone appeared. His eyes narrowed. You couldn't trust anyone anymore. He kept his wits about him as he continued running but suddenly, quick and fast a knife was out. Cutting into his flesh. He let out a gasp as the metal impaled him as he stared into the face of his attacker.

  "ZANE?" Jay screamed.

  The ice ninja let out a laugh as Jay gritted his teeth in betrayal. "I KNEW YOU WERE THE IMPOSTER!" The blue clad boy hit the throw pillow beside him in frustration as his screen lit up revealing his defeat.

  "Nice job, buddy." Cole complemented him. "I never saw it coming!"

  Kai humphed and sank back in the couch, clutching his phone as he sulked. "I can't believe you guys voted me out!"

  "Kai, you were really suspicious." Nya rolled her eyes at her brother, flicking him lightly in the head. "Why were you hanging around in that room for so long anyway? We thought you vented."

  "I thought maybe my character could look at his reflection!" Kai whined.

  "I can't believe I killed Cole right in front of Nya." Lloyd huffed.

Nya snickered. "Not your best kill."

  Kai glanced at his phone. "Skylor says she can join in the next game."

  "I can send her the specific line of numbers she needs to enter the game." Zane told his brother.

  Nya sighed. "Lloyd, what are you wearing?"

  "What? You don't think the ghost mask is cool?" Lloyd asked, his little green figure running around and around in hyper circles.

  "COLE! Why did you steal my colour?" Jay whipped to glare at his gets friend who smiled cheekily. "I'm the blue ninja, my character should be Blue not this disgusting brown!"

  "But I don't want to be black." Cole pouted, going to the tablet on screen and seeing if he could keep find any good hats to pair with his plain colour. Cole reluctantly changed back to his original colour and Jay let out a squeak of joy when he returned to a vibrant dark blue.

  "Skylor's in!" Kai said excitedly.

  "I like her pumpkin hat." Lloyd complemented as he changed into a green fedora.

  Zane squinted at the screen. "Is that...did Dareth just join our game?"

  "What? No!" Jay groaned. "Can we kick him out?"

  "Jay!" Nya scolded.

  "Can we please?" Kai kneaded his brow. "Look, he's wearing the toilet paper hat."

"What are you doing?" A female robotic voice rang as Pixal entered. She walked around the couch and gave Zane a small kiss on the cheeks making his smile visibly wider as she sat down beside him.

  "Playing Among Us." Jay stuck out his tongue as he concentrated on making figure eights around Nya.

  "What is...Among Us?" Pixal questioned, leaning over Zane's shoulder.

  "It's a murder mystery game." Lloyd answered and tossed her the phone she had left on the coffee table. "Join us!"

  "Okay we got ten!" Kai said excitedly as another joined. "Let's start!"

  Lloyd pressed the button and watched as the red character appeared on screen, a finger up in the universal signal for shh. He watched as his own avatar appeared listing him as a crew mate.

  Everyone was silent at first while they ran to their individual tasks. Lloyd kept a close eye on where everyone was, using his instinctual ninja skills in the game as he waited for Nya to enter so she knew he was a crew mate.

  Jay yelped as the screen changed. A report for a dead body had been made. "Already?"

  "Where was it?" Kai asked, his fingers moving as he sent the same question to the three others who could not hear him. Skylor, Dareth, and someone in yellow with a period as their name. It wasn't very creative but Kai wasn't judging.

  "Navigation." Zane answered, typing along. "I was in weaponry with preventing us from being harmed by the asteroids. Then I went to the navigation room and found Dareth there."

  There was a heartbeat as everyone thought of what to say. "Are we really that surprised he was killed five seconds through the game?" Kai stated the obvious.

  "Must've vented." Nya sighed, wheels turning as she thought it out. "Anyone in O2 or the room in the right corner."

  "I was." Cole announced. "I saw Jay run by."

  Kai raised an eyebrow. "That's kinda sus."

  "What?" Jay yelled incredulously. "I was running in. You were already there! How do we know Cole's not the imposter?"

  "We don't, that's the point of the game." Lloyd snorted.

  "Do we skip?" Nya questioned. "I got nothing, just keep an eye on Cole and Jay."

  "HEY!" They both said defensively.

  Kai nodded in agreement, relaying the message to the others before pressing skip.

  "Cole!" Jay lightly shoved his friend with his foot. "Why did you vote me?"

  "You voted me!" Cole yelped.

"Guys, shut up!" Kai moaned as he made it into admin. He began to bristle with frustration when he card wouldn't swipe. "Are you kidding me?" He muttered. But suddenly he gasped when his screen changed, an animation of a figure shooting him.

  "I just got killed." Kai tossed his phone down.

  "What?" Nya exclaimed, her eyes flicking to him.

  "Zane, the screen says the reactor needs to be repaired." Pixal announced.

  Jay's frown deepened. "He's smart." He mumbled as he ran toward the reactor. "Making us all go to the reactor so none of us know."

Everyone except Kai was huddled in the reactor room, all moving to fix it. Bit as they clumped together Cole let out a yell. "Someone just killed me!" They all groaned when they realized they couldn't figure out who it was. They all had been there.

Lloyd frowned as the discussion started, not liking the depleting numbers. With a start he realized somehow Skylor had been killed too.

"Okay, I think it's Jay." Lloyd announced. Jay's mouth dropped.

"How dare you!"

"The idea sounds logical. One of your impulsive moves and tactics is always to kill the person who suspects you. In this case it was Cole." Zane agreed. "You could be the imposter."

Jay sputtered, unsure how to defend himself. "Fbenjibeshskk- You're the imposter!"

"Voting Jay." Nya announced.

They watched as his little blue figure floated across the screen. The words Motor Mouth was not the imposter appeared. Jay sent them a squint-eyed glare.

Lloyd cringed. "Sorry."

He directed his character to do a few tasks. After finishing up the lower engine he went to upper only to find Zane's dead body.

"Oh. I died." Zane said lamely as Lloyd rushed to report it.

"Pixal's suspicious." Nya eyed the Nindroid. "You've been awfully quiet."

Pixal blinked emotionlessly back. "As has Period, do you think my silence is out of my loss of thing to say or my attempt at hiding my identity?"

"Weren't you and Zane together when we left Reactor?" Lloyd asked.

She paused. Unsure what to say, mouth slightly open. "Uh..." Her voice cut in and out. "Yes."

Nya shook her head, tapping her screen over Pixal's name. Lloyd and Period voted as well and Pixal flew across the abyss.

Pixal was ejected.

Zane smiled at his girlfriend. "Well done, I did not expect you to sneak attack me."

Lloyd's brow scrunched as he watched Nya complete the weapons task, seeing that the animations were working he came to the conclusion that the calm character pretending to do the download was the imposter. Nya had figured this out as well and they all ran for the emergency meeting. The other ninja cheered them on as they anxiously waited for the time to go down. Unfortunately, Period's kill timer had finished and he or she was now chasing them around the cafeteria.

Lloyd couldn't help the squeak of alarm as the character set their sight on Lloyd and he ran around in circles around the lunch table. Before he knew it Nya was there as well and they were all sprinting around and around. But with a yell Nya dropped her device. The game had ended. The Imposters have won.

"Woah!" Kai laughed, placing down his phone. "Who was that Period guy?"

"Impressed students?" A calm voice entered. They all turned to see Wu standing in the door way. Face calm, a twinkle in his eyes and his mouth turned up in amusement. He was sipping tea as per usual but in his usually free hand was a phone.

They all groaned. "You were the Imposter?" Jay exclaimed.

"When did you get a phone?" Kai asked. "I thought you were sworn off anything fun and a thousand years younger than you." Wu scowled, tossing his wooden tea cup at the fire ninja's head.

"And Period?" Cole's eyebrow raised.

"I wasn't sure how to work the username." Wu replied smoothly, retrieving his tea cup from Kai.

Lloyd shook his head, chuckling as he realized his uncle had bested them at a video game.

"Now this is a lesson to you all! Don't play games before training and don't think I can't beat you in a silly murder activity!"

What do you think?