Once the glowing faded, we all looked to see if the machine had been powered off.....only to see it was still glowing. My eyes widened.

"W-What the?" I said. "Hey, i-its still on!" Kaito said. Maki and Shuichi both shared the same look of disbelief. I was very confused. I definitely got the right power sources. So why aren't they deactivated? The electro bomb should've done the trick. So....why?

"K-Kokichi? Something isn't right. The power source is still on!" Tsumugi said on the walkie talkie. "Neither is the one here. What's going on?" Kirumi asked. 

"Kokichi?" Maki said, looking to me. "I....I don't know," I admitted, making sure my walkie talkie was on so everyone could hear me, "but, we'll figure it out, I just gotta examine the machine-"

"Yeah, don't bother." we all perked up upon hearing Monokuma's voice. I snapped my head to Motherkuma, seeing it was now on and activated. "Come on, did ya really think your foolish plan would work?" it said.

"What? No, these machines definitely power that electric fence to the hidden gate! I saw it with my own eyes!" I stated. 

"Oh yes, you're very correct about that. However, Monokuma was prepared for this. You see, normally during the killing game, he isn't allowed to use his powers. But he did do one little thing.....he used his magic to put up barriers around the four power sources, that way no one would really get out." Motherkuma explained. My eyes widened. What....did it say? Monokuma used his powers?! 

"H-His powers?! What the hell are you talking about?!" Kaito demanded. "Oh its nothing for you to worry about, space man." Motherkuma cooed. I growled, clenching my fists tightly.

"That bastard!" I snapped. The other three looked at me in surprise. "Kokichi?" Shuichi said. I walked right up to the Motherkuma.

"That bozo gets to cheat at his own game?! What the hell?! I thought he was loyal to his own rules!" I snapped. 

"Pufufufufu, well I guess you read Monokuma incorrectly. But you know, Kokichi, you're one to talk. I mean....you also have a certain advantage in this game, don't you?" Motherkuma said. My eyes widened. This thing knows about my knowledge? Dammit, what else has that damn bear done?! He better hope I don't run into him....

"Kokichi, what is Motherkuma talking about?" Maki asked. My eyes widened. I blinked, and turned to face my group. "What do you mean?" I asked.

"What certain advantage is he talking about?" Shuichi asked. My eyes widened as it dawned on me. They heard that. Shit, this isn't good. If they found out I've known about the first time line this whole time.....

"Like I'm supposed to know! I don't understand this at all!" I stated. 

"Typical Kokichi, lying his way out of trouble~" Motherkuma replied. "Grgh, shut the hell up! I'm not lying!" I snapped. 

"Suuuure. And that's not an Exisal at the door." Motherkuma said. "Wait, what did it say....?" Kaito said, eyes wide. "The entrance!" Maki cried. We all snapped our heads to the door, seeing one of the Exisals blocking the library bookcase entrance.

"Uh oh, looks like you guys are in a helluva lot of trouble! You guys aren't allowed in here!" Monokid said. 

"Not good!" Shuichi said. Kaito put on a fierce expression. "I got this!" he stated, gripping the electro hammer tightly and swinging it at Exisal. However, Monokid caught the hammer in one hand, and effortlessly picked it up, along with Kaito. "Nice try, asshole!" Monokid said. 

"Kaito!" Maki cried. "Uh oh...." Kaito muttered. Monokid flung Kaito off the electro hammer, causing him to go flying across the room and slamming into the wall, making him cry out in pain. "No! Kaito!" Shuichi said. Maki ran over to Kaito and knelt down beside him, helping him stand onto his feet. 

"Are you okay?" she asked. Kaito gave a nod.

"Who wants to be next?" Monokid stated. He turned the Exisal so that it was looking at me. "How bout you next, you sneaky rat!" he said. I narrowed my eyes, backing away towards Motherkuma. Shuichi looked to me with wide eyes.

"Kokichi!" he said. I tried to think of a plan in my head. I know there's a secret passageway in here, leading to the girl's bathroom on the first floor. That's how I caught Tsumugi before. I just need to distract the Exisal so we can use it to escape. But how....

I looked to Motherkuma, then back at Monokid. In one swift movement, I hid behind Motherkuma, and pushed the giant glass case forward. 

"Wait! What are you-" Motherkuma didn't get to finish as I shoved it off the made it crash onto the floor. 

"Motherkuma!" Monokid cried, hurrying over to pick it up. "Shit! I-I gotta fix it before Dad sees this..." he said. "You do that! We gotta go!" I stated, running to Shuichi and grabbing his arm. I led him away from the Exisal and towards the secret entrance, which was against the wall. It was a simple door to swing open. Shuichi looked at me surprised. 

"Kokichi-"

"Maki! Kaito! We gotta go!" I called out. Both of them looked at me and nodded, and hurried through the passage. "Hey! Where do you think you're going?!" Monokid shouted. He rushed over to try and grab us, but I closed the door as soon as all four of us were inside. Luckily, the entrance was too small for an Exisal to get inside, so we're okay for now.

"What is this passageway?" Kaito asked. 

"Leads to the girls bathroom on the first floor. It's how I caught Tsumugi." I stated. "Well, what now? If we're getting attack by an Exisal, then the others must be in trouble too." Maki said. "Which is why we need to find them and regroup! Come on, the group near the Road of Despair is the closest to us." I said, running down the hallway.

The other three followed me, running as fast as we could to get out of here. When we got to the girl's bathroom, we busted out of there and headed for the closest exit that led to the courtyard. Hopefully we can find everyone in time....

"Kokichi!" my group paused and looked to our right. Rantaro, Tsumugi, Miu, and Keebo were running towards us. None of them seemed to be harmed, which was a huge relief to me. "You're safe!" I said.

"Barely. One of the Exisals was on our tail, but Miu managed to deactivate it with the electro hammer." Keebo stated. "Yeah, now this thing is ka-put." Miu stated with a huff, looking at the hammer in disappointment. 

"What happened to yours?" Rantaro asked. Kaito looked away with a frustrated expression. "One of the damn Exisals took it from me. I didn't even get to use it." he admitted. 

"We were gonna head to the Road of Despair and see if the group from there is alright." Shuichi said. "That's where we were heading. I hope they're okay." Tsumugi said. However, a girl's scream made our eyes widen. I snapped my head to the source, straight in front of us. In the distance, I could see Kirumi, Kaede, Gonta, and Ryoma running from another Exisal. Kaede was injured with a small wound on her lower leg, causing her to slow down.

"Oh no! They're in trouble!" Keebo cried. I didn't see any of them had an electro hammer in their hands, so there was no way they could defend themselves. Suddenly Kaede tripped over her foot, making her fall with a thud. Shuichi's eyes widened. "Kaede!" he cried. That made Gonta stop dead in his tracks and look back. 

"K-Kaede!" he cried. Kaede winced and tried to sit up, looking back in fear as the Exisal began to close in on her. 

"Hahahaha! I've almost gotcha!" Monotaro called. I needed to act fast. My eyes snapped to the hammer in Miu's hand. She said it was drained of battery, but.....dammit. I hurried and snatched the hammer from her.

"Hey! What are you-" she began.

"It might be drained, but its still a weapon!" I stated. "And you think you have the strength to smack that thing with your puny arms?!" Miu snapped. She was right, I'm not strong enough, but....

"Gonta!" I called out. Gonta looked back at me. 

"Use that strength of yours, big guy!" I called, tossing the hammer with all the strength I had. Gonta nodded and effortlessly caught the hammer, then he charged for Monotaro. Meanwhile, Kaede scrambled back and held her arms up in defense as the Exisal prepared to smash her with its fist. However, Gonta interfered, swinging the hammer with all his might and smashed the whole arm right off the Exisal.

"Whoa! What the hell?!" Monotaro cried. My eyes widened in shock. Damn....

"Leave Kaede alone! Leave all Gonta's friends alone!" Gonta shouted. "O-Oh geez, I-I don't stand a chance against this guy...." Monotaro said. With that he slowly backed away until he fully turned and ran away. When he was far enough, Gonta looked down at Kaede in concern.

"Kaede? You okay?" he asked. Kaede looked at Gonta surprised but nodded. "Y-Yeah, I'm fine." she said. Gonta nodded, kneeling down and picking her up so that she was sitting on his arm while she wrapped her arms around her neck. 

"Are you all okay?" Kaito asked as Kirumi and Ryoma finally slowed down to speak with us.

"We are unharmed, apart from Kaede's leg. But we have drained our electro hammer in a failed attempt to stop the Exisal, and left it behind in all the chaos." Kirumi explained. "Damn, guess things aren't going as planned...." Ryoma said. I growled, biting at my thumb. 

"This is not how things were supposed to go. This is really bad...." I thought. 

"What now, Kokichi?" Maki asked. I sighed. I gotta remain calm. Before anything else, we gotta get the rest of our group. There's still four others missing; Tenko, Angie, Kiyo and Himiko.

"We need to make our way to the third floor and find the last group. We need to make sure they're safe before anything else." I stated. "What are we waiting for?! Let's go find them!" Kaito stated. We all nodded and ran towards the academy, aside from Kaede, whom Gonta carried since she was injured.

We all ran down the hallway together, our footsteps echoing in unison as we ran, sounding like a group of horses running. We came upon the first set of stairs, and were about to run up them....but paused when we heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

"You guys! You're here!" Angie said, running down. Tenko and Kiyo followed behind her. "Thank goodness we found you. We have a serious problem." Kiyo stated. My eyes widened. Problem? What is he talking about?

"What kind of problem?" I asked. It was then I realized Tenko's eyes were wide with worry, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"O-One of the Exisals....it took Himiko!" she cried. My eyes widened. No, it took Himiko....? Fuck, not good, not good. 

"Where did it go?! Did you see which direction it went?" Rantaro asked. "No! It came so quick, and it was so dark up there. We could barely find the stairs to get out of there!" Tenko cried. I placed a hand on my chin. The Exisal took Himiko....but it didn't kill her?

".....something doesn't seem right." I said. Shuichi looked at me puzzled, as well as the others. "What do you mean?" he asked. "I thought the Exisals were going to kill us, not capture us. They wouldn't capture Himiko.....unless Monokuma has his own agenda." I stated. 

*Bing bong* *Ding dong*

We all perked up at the familiar tune on the inter com.

"Ahem, all students of the Ultimate Academy for Gifted Juveniles make your way to the gym.....if you ever wanna see Himiko Yumeno alive again."