Author's Notes:

The plot thickens some more

Octavia's fingers kept clicking and snapping as she stretched them, walking in one of the lower levels of the facility. She too had received the call of Flash Sentry's whereabouts, just like everyone else. But she was too busy to even focus on that. Right now she was trying to find her way around the basement area, looking for her first challenge.

Opening up a door, she walked into the room. She didn't see much, but she did see a few things. A few power boxes, an alive furnace with a few puffs of smoke coming out of it, and just like with Vinyl, there was a TV mounted on the wall.

"Welcome, Octavia."

Octavia didn't jump, but instead looked up at the TV.

"Mind telling me why the flying feather I'm doing in the furnace room? Also, that furnace doesn't look very well put together!"

"It's nothing of your concern, Miss Octavia. Sure, its not perfect, but its nothing bad to worry about."

Octavia didn't buy that for a second. She knew something bad was gonna come of it, she just knew it.

"Alright, so what kind of challenge do you have for me?"

"A simple one, Miss Octavia. You are in the furnace room, as you can clearly see. Look on the wall in front of you, the panel that's open with the red switches and circuits."

Octavia did just that.

"In front of you is the control box. Every switch needs to be set to green, virtually none of them can be red. Set them to all green, and the power will flow throughout this abandoned place nice and evenly."

"There's more to this, isn't it?"

"There is... as we speak, several other contestants, your friends, are in some areas that require power. Succeed in keeping the power running, you'll not only be helping me, but you'll be saving your friends as well."

Octavia moaned. "Very well... let us fix this jalopy."

She looked at the control panel, keeping a single piece of light on it so she could see. The room wasn't very lit, and was almost impossible to see. Only reason she could see was with the red lighting. But with the help of the light from her phone, she had clear vision and could see what she was doing now.

In front of her was a grid like panel, with light-up buttons on each panel, and little circuits that could be switched around. Nine squares in total, and circuits on each to connect to one another.

"Alright, lets hope this works."

Octavia reached her hand to the top left corner of the grid, adjusting the switch to face down. Then on the small switch next to it, she turned it to face the middle. Both of the lights that she switched turned from red to green.

"Ohhhh... I get it now!" Octavia said, grinning a grin.

She reached her hand to the bottom middle switch, and turned the the circle knob around to point down to the connector piece. With a circuit open on its left side, she turned the bottom left circuit around, and connected it to the other, making the next two knobs light up with green.

"So tell me, Mr. Markless. What do you truly wish to get out of all of this? You say you don't wish to harm the Dazzlings, but it seems an awful lot of trouble to make a broadcast, and force us all to play this game."

"Its a complicated story, Miss Melody. One that you wouldn't understand. Only one of your friends would understand..."

"Really? Who?"

"Why spoil the fun now when there's so much more to play?"

Octavia rolled her eyes. "Okay, let me ask you this, do you want us to die?" Octavia flipped another switch on the panel, turning more of the circuits around.

"I never said I wished you all to die."

"Then why have us go through these outrageous puzzles? Why the elaborate disguise? Also," Octavia coughed, "Why do you not have anything fixed on that furnace? I'm getting some rather bad fumes from it."

"That furnace has been like that for the last few days. Its old, but it serves its purpose."

Octavia looked back at the furnace with a worried glance. With how old it was, and how rusted it looked, it didn't look like it would hold together for every long. It was like if you touched it for even a second, something would fall off.

"So, did you have any other guests here? Outside of us?" Octavia asked some more, turning the final switches around.

"Other than you girls? There is only one person here outside of your siren friends... ME."

Octavia gulped. The sound of this didn't sit well with her stomach, and she didn't like what she heard. But it wouldn't have to be for long. She adjusted the final switches, and soon she found every switch and button on the panel was glowing green.

"Its done!"

"Excellent... now you may move on to your next puzzle. Be warned... your next challenge will a little harder."

"I expect nothing more than difficulty from here on out," Octavia said, walking through the open door. She walked up the stairs, finally gone from the basement. Thank goodness, she wasn't sure if she could be there any more. It was so humid down there, she felt her clothes sticking to her like glue.

Finally out of the basement, she was now back on the ground level. Or at least, above ground. Once she reached the top of the stairs, she found a piece of paper laying on the ground marked with her name on it. Picking it up, she opened it up and read the clue to herself. Once she read the clue, she folded it up and put it in her jacket pocket just in case.

Making a turn around the corner, she stopped and gasped. Were her eyes deceiving her? Was it true?

"Aria?" Octavia gasped.

A glowing girl, baring much resemblance to the one she cared, was there. She made a single turn, looking towards Octavia. Her face was blank, void of emotion of any kind, and her eyes sunken in and with no distinguishable pupils. She slowly started to walk towards her, with more and more grimacing look as she came near.

But after a few seconds, Octavia found herself turning away, and closing her eyes, not daring to look back. Was she going to attack? Was she going to do something that she wasn't going to like?

Standing brave as she could, she opened up her eyes to look back for only a small glimpse. But after a second or two, they opened up all the way in shock. The girl that she was seeing wasn't there anymore. She wasn't there, at all!

She slapped her own face, groaning in anger. "Keep it together, Octavia. You're not going to let anything distract you. The Dazzlings are counting on you, you need to focus!"

Not thinking for any more seconds, she began to run down the hallway, not willing to slow down no more. She tried desperately to think about what she was going to do when she would face the next challenge, but she couldn't. All that took her mind was the glowing Aria Blaze that she saw in front of her. Was she really there? Did she vanish? Was she seeing things?

Starlight and Trixie's path on the game quickly began. After a careful read of their clue, they got the spot for where they needed to go next. Now it was traveling time.

They walked outside of the main factory areas, looking at the rust and decaying buildings around them. So much moss, so much rust, and it was all decrepit and old.

"Such a disgusting place. Who would even run a game here?" Starlight asked.

"Probably a psychopath bent on torturing me and my friends," Trixie said, less than amused.

"Sure does make a good place to hide," Starlight replied, looking at some of the decaying debris.

"Yes. Yes it does..."

Starlight looked back at Trixie who's head was focused on walking ahead. She looked at her with a frown.

"Trixie, am I annoying you?" Starlight asked. "Its okay, I can stay quiet."

Trixie sighed. "No, its not you, Starlight. I'm just... I'm still trying to figure out who could this guy be. We've talked to almost everyone we know in our past, and virtually none of them have given us any sign or indication that they could be the one. We did think about talking to people outside of CHS, but we only ran into you, and I sincerely doubt you'd be the one."

"Well, why not think back some more. Who else could want to get back at you? You make any bullies when you were younger?"

Trixie continued to look around, her head deep in thought.

"Well... there was a friend I had back in 6th grade. But she and I both agreed to go our own ways, so I don't think she'd be one. I do remember this one girl I met back in 8th grade. She was pretty quiet, and although I kept messing up her name, I don't think she would go so far as to kidnap my friends. Though if I'm honest, I don't think she goes to CHS anymore."

"Do you remember anything about her?"

Trixie raised her finger... and then dropped it. "Nope. Again, I haven't talked to some people in a long time. Oh wait, I do remember this one girl... what was it, Moon Lover, Moon Shaker... I can't remember, but anyways, I remember her, but I don't recall any hate between us so I don't think she'd be responsible for this."

Trixie and Starlight made another turn around a corner, and stopped when Trixie hit her foot. She looked down and saw something strange. What appeared to be regular sized hammer was laying on the ground. But when she picked it up, she could see a strange metal band wrapped around the bottom of the handle.

"Who leaves their tools lying around?" Starlight asked.

"No idea. But if these belong to the Markless... then well, these aren't really telling us anything."

Trixie just shrugged, and she kept walking forward with Starlight right by her side. Up ahead, they could see the spot that they needed to go to. Now they just had to go right for it. They picked up their feet, starting to skip towards the spot, not even paying attention to the hand that picked up the hammer from the ground, walking away from the site...

Bon Bon was still on her run, trying to do her part in the game. So far, no sign of where she was supposed to go. She didn't even understand what to do on her riddle. So, she would need to take some time to think this out.

Thankfully for her, in one of the empty areas, she found herself an outdoor table to sit to try and think. In addition, she munched on a few homemade snacks that she brought with in her bag. She munched down on a muffin that she baked herself, and looked at the card that had her riddle. She had read it back to back, multiple times and with no idea as to how to even solve it.

She held her head, groaning. "This is impossible!"

"What are you reading?"

"Oh I'm just--DAH!!!" Bon Bon jumped off from the bench and grabbed her kitchen knife. She held it up and pointed it at the person who spoke to her. Standing behind her and in fear was someone she expected the least; Muffins.

"Muffins? What are you doing here?" Bon Bon asked, still holding the knife out.

"I heard you were having some issues and I wanted to see you," Muffins replied, bashfully.

"No, I mean, what are you doing here? In an abandoned steel mill?"

"Huh? Oh!" Muffins realized. "Sorry, I didn't understand. I've been here since this morning, actually."

"For what purpose?"

"I've been doing some practicing."

Bon Bon still didn't lower her weapon down.

"Practicing for what?"

"For the Friendship Games! I wanted to audition, but I needed to work on my archery skills."

"But why out here?" Bon Bon asked, moving a little closer.

"I-I'm not sure I want to say..." Muffins replied, looking ashamed.

"Muffins?"

She looked back to Bon Bon who was slowly starting to open up a bit. Not all the way, but enough that she could move a little closer.

"How long have you been out here?"

"I've been here since 8:00 this morning," Muffins quivered, still looking at the sharp knife. And a few moments later, she could hear her stomach churning and growling. Bon Bon could practically hear it.

"Hungry?" Bon Bon asked.

The cross-eyed girl nodded.

"Okay. Tell you what. You want a muffin?"

"Oh, I'd love one. Please?"

"I'll allow you to have some of my food... but you have to show me exactly what you're doing out here. Okay?"

The girl sheepishly nodded.

"Okay. Help yourself."

Muffins' hand instantly reached out and grabbed a muffin from her bag, happily munching into it. The taste of it made her shiver in delight. The sweet pastry that was baked to perfection, with the sweet hint of blueberry spliced within.

"Feel better?"

"Mmmhmm."

"Okay, well, now that you've got some food, how about you show me what you're doing here?" Bon Bon asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Of course. Follow me!"

Muffins happily led Bon Bon away, and although she was still suspicious, Bon Bon walked behind the gray-skinned blond. But she didn't tuck her knife away, she kept it out, and she didn't tuck it back away. Who knew what exactly Muffins was hiding from her...

Unbeknownst to the gang, Flash Sentry and Muffins weren't the only people in the area. A pair of boots walked among some gravel, stomping on the ground. The boots walked towards a crater that had been formed in one of the spots of the mill. It was an area that wasn't being foreseen by the Markless or any of the band members. It was an area that was being dug up for quite a while. In the crater, as far as the eye could see there was nothing but rocks.

But what appeared to be the hands of metal tongs reached down and grabbed one of the rocks. Raising it the rock up, the person could see a small sliver of some light, reflecting off of the crystals on the rock.

"Hmm... Excellent."