Randall Schwartz
04.08.22
MGM Grand
Las Vegas, NV
We open inside the hotel room of the Masters of the Multiverse B-Team, where we find the gentlemen returning just moments after the conclusion of Culture Shock. Both are still in a bit of shock that they managed to survive the tribal voting, a concern not shared with their new, um, “mentor” Aeon Khronos.
“Fellas, how’d we do tonight?”
This just draws a heavy sigh from Kenny and Randall, before the latter speaks up.
“Well, we survived the voting this week, so there’s that.”
Aeon nods with an impressed look on his face.
“Good! That’s the name of the game, isn’t it?”
Kenny shakes his head at the response.
“Tell that to the Bruvs, they decided they wanted nothing to do with this mess.”
Kenny plops himself down on the bed, checking his phone as Aeon speaks up again.
“Still, you’ve made it to the next round of this challenge, and that’s important! While you two were pushing that boulder, I was peeping around the underbelly of the hotel…”
Randall cuts him off with a look of concern.
“I don’t know if peeping is a good word to throw around.”
Aeon pays no mind to this, however, as he continues.
“…and I think I may have found something curious. I think I found an inflection point.”
This grabs the attention of Kenny, who finally looks up from his phone.
“Is that one of those portal things you were talking about? Where the weird stuff comes in from across the multiverse?”
Aeon nods with a smirk.
“One in the same, buddy.”
Kenny looks quite excited about the idea, unlike Randall who just gives a look of confusion.
“Is it…active?”
Aeon’s smirk turns into a slight grimace.
“It looks that way. So, I’m glad you two are still in the challenge, because I need more time to investigate what’s going o–”
Aeon is once again interrupted, this time by a thud at the hotel door. The anxiety quickly ramps up in the room as Aeon walks toward the door, taking a look through the peephole…but seeing nothing.
“Huh, that’s weird.”
What becomes weirder is the door is once again hit with a hard thud, leaving Aeon in a state of shock and confusion as Kenny creeps up from behind, cracking the door open…which, naturally scares Aeon something dreadful as he gives an angry whisper.
“What are you doing!?”
“Look!”
Kenny shouts, pointing at a rather peculiar sight in the doorway…a Rubik’s cube. Randall speaks up with a tone of bewilderment.
“What the hell!?”
Aeon just looks at the object, studying it closely as he strokes his chin.
“Hmm…how puzzling.”
As if speaking a magic word, the cube responds to this by spinning around on its own, which scares the living hell out of the trio. Kenny answers this the only way he knows how…by slamming the door shut, knocking the weird object back into the hallway. We hear several more thuds at the door as the men regroup, trying to figure out their next steps…and Aeon eventually speaks up.
“Right, so we need to get past that cube, and hightail it out of here. Any suggestions, gentlemen?”
Kenny grabs the nearby trashbin, emptying its contents with a smile on his face.
“I think the best way to solve this little puzzle is to grab it and keep it down. I can handle that, Randall can open the elevator and we can just throw it in there!”
“But what about anyone in the elevator when the doors open?”
Without skipping a beat, Kenny shrugs his shoulders. Aeon speaks up, resting a hand on the shoulder of Schwartz.
“One step at a time, Randall.”
Aeon turns his attention back to the door.
“Okay, on the count of three, we’re going with the plan. One…two…”
*BZZT BZZT BZZT BZZT*
Randall is startled awake by the noise emanating from his phone, shutting his alarm off as Kenny and Aeon glare at him. Kenny checks something on his phone before speaking up.
“You with us, man? We’re talking about strategies for next week. Are you gonna make the run up and down to get the pieces, or are you solving the puzzle itself?”
Randall nods his head with a yawn.
“Yeah, I can make the run up and down as long as I get enough rest between now and then.”
The three of them nod in agreement, and Kenny and Aeon go back to strategizing as Randall looks at the hotel, his anxiety starting to ramp back up for some reason as we fade to black.