Episode 2

Episode 2 is the third episode of Scratch Murder Mystery.

Synopsis
The episode starts where it left off, with Birdah saying they had to lock Berricake out for their own survival. Sterlon agreed, with 7Sofa asking Berri why she murdered PotatoAnimator and GoldenEagleStudios, and what they had ever done to her, even though Berri's only mistake was leaving the food unattended for the RatX to be poured in. -PhantomAnimations- emphasized the point by pointing out that both Potato and Golden were truly dead, unable to come back, and Berri futilely told the four others that she was innocent, with Sofa showing her distrust, and Berri retaliated for the final time by saying that getting her out of the cabin was in the murderer's plan, leaving, in her words, to "make things easy for you." After reminding the rest of the group that they'd be sorry they cast her out, she solemnly opened the door and walked out, where the bugs presumably stung her.

After Berri's departure, Sofa, while Birdah comforting her, expressed her disbelief in her belief that Berricake was the mastermind behind Golden's death. Birdah pointed out that it showed the Survivors couldn't trust each other. Sterlon supported the argument by pointing out that they'd only known each other since the Bugs invaded the world, and that learning a person's true personality is impossible if you only knew that person for a few weeks.

Secretly, Phantom had his doubts, suspecting that he couldn't have noticed if Sofa slipped away while he was watching TV, but silenced his doubts, saying in his mind that it was the wrong time to question the main group's judgement.

Later that day, when the group was cooking a meal, possibly lunch, Sterlon was choosing which canned food they would eat, Birdah was comforting 7Sofa, and -PhantomAnimations-' attention was caught by a bottle of NyQuil. He told the others of his find, and Sterlon was one of the first to realise it was NyQuil. Sofa realised and said that the murderer, who she thought was Berri, used the NyQuil to drag Golden out, since GoldenEagleStudios was bigger than her, and NyQuil contained antihistamines, making it the perfect alternative to Chloroform, which would keep Golden unconscious when being dragged outside. Sterlon reassured them by saying they'd found out the truth in time.

Birdah picked up a letter she found in the hallway, and then read it out. The name happened to be smudged, so Phantom immediately assumed it was meant for Berri, and Birdah continued. The advice of taking others' lives to survive horrified Sofa and Sirlon, but it didn't shock the group as much as the signature at the bottom, which revealed the sender to be ArcanisHD, and Sofa doubted it, since she knew he was a master chef.

She experienced a flashback to one of the episodes of his show, "AK's Kitchen", where AK menacingly looked at participants of his cooking contest like BurntPotatoArts, and yelled, in a Gordon-Ramsay-esque manner, "This meat is RAW!" Giolaboman apologized, sweating, but BurntPotatoArts screamed in fear and frustration, and AK immediately disqualified all the participants with the comment that he could hear the steak mooing in his stomach, and -Rocket- cheerfully concluded the segment and Sofa's flashback.

Sterlon pondered out loud why a masterchef would tell someone to murder people. With Birdah admitting she had no idea why, Sofa tried to cheer them up by saying that they got rid of the murderer, with Phantom smiling in relief.

On ScratchNews, News Reporter Lady hiohbye said she was bringing live footage of the president HuntedSkelly's bug extermination plan, predicted to halve the death rate. Two conflicted opinions were cast afterwards, with a girl who was likely Cottoncandy_UwU saying she believed in the president, and WinterMist- saying Hunted's plan was lunacy. Another person, wearing a Hamilton T-shirt, retaliated with "This. Is. Scratch!" Hiohbye said that they would be interviewing some of the presidential aides, with Bluestem saying she'd been making progress since the bugs first invaded, and the program would be implemented in a few days. Kenpoviper said he believed in his brother Skelly, having made three Scratch acounts to vote for him.

Huntedskelly himself announced that in the weeks it had taken them, they had lost a lot, and he would do his best for the Scratch community, and that he'd be nothing without his people, and that they'd get through this, exterminating the bugs, before asking if anyone objected. It was only ArcanisHD who objected, voicing his opinion that they shouldn't make the bugs go extinct. Potatobear616 was concerned, with AK answering her that the bugs were good for business. HectorOC asked AK what he meant by the bugs' extermination being bad for business, calling him a "brain-dead Gordon Ramsay ripoff" while pointing out that he ran a smoothie company. It was then that Lily realised that there was something wrong with the smoothies, ending the news clip.

That night, Birdah turned to Berri's sleeping bag while she slept, with Sofa turned away from her. In her dream, she woke up in white emptiness, shocked to see Potato calling her name. PotatoAnimator explained it was the only way he could reach her, telling her that there was a murderer on the loose. Birdah reacted with confusion, still under the impression that Berricake was the murderer. Unfortunately, before Potato could tell Birdah who really killed him, he glitched out and she woke, sitting up, alarmed. Then she remembered her séance with Potato was only a dream, going to the balcony in the rain to get some fresh air without fear of the bugs, hoping it was a good omen. Unfortunately for her, the murderer walked out onto the balcony, grabbed her by the shoulder, and pushed her off, a flash of lightning and Minecraft-esque message marking her death. The episode's end credits roll, concluding with a demonstration of how only three Survivors remained.

Major cast
@Berricake as herself

@Birdah as herself

@PotatoAnimator as himself

@-PhantomAnimations- as himself

@Sterlon as himself

@ArcanisHD as himself

@huntedskelly as himself

Supporting cast
@potatobear616 as herself

@-Rocket- as himself

@unknownscratcher1234 / Kenpoviper as himself

@bluestem as herself

Trivia

 * After the news clip, several viewers were sure that ArcanisHD was the murderer. His retaliation at Hunted's bug extermination program by saying it would be bad for business, even though he sold smoothies, because, as said by Scratcher Pet_gamesOFFICIAL on her unofficial account, "Now why would a CHEF care about a handful of survivors? ArcanisHD sounds like much, MUCH more than a chef to me." The same user pointed out that AK's smoothies were most likely made of the corpses of the Bugs.
 * To add to the previous point, several viewers on Scratch went inside the project and believed that the hand that grabbed Birdah by the shoulder was Sofa's, because of the similarity in art style.