Galant's POV

     I gasped at the sight of the fallen Zoroark, my eyes almost entirely blind from the explosion. It was horrible, I really thought Loki was dead at that moment. I began rushing up to the grouped up Pokemon, Inu beginning to blurt out words.

     "Sam! You can't kill anyone, those are not the rules! Fucking help her!" The Infernape's vulgar words hit the Braixen directly like a dagger. Her piercing gaze almost caused the Braixen to move.

     "Fine, but only because I don't want to break my own rules." Sam rolled her eyes as the Braixen tramped across the hardwood floor. She stared blankly at the body, her eyes glowing an odd type of color, and suddenly...

      A very quick movement from the once lifeless Zoroark. Loki gasped for air and spastically glared at everyone in the room.

     "W-What..? What in the..." Loki mumbled silently as Inu was the first to embrace her in a hug. Soon enough, Rayne, Aubra, and Sherwood began to join in the group.

     "Alright, this is sweet and all, but we have a trial to get to, don't we?" Alice sternly locked eyes with the group, who seemed to disperse immediately after her remark.

     "Thanks, Alice, we really do have one! I'm impatient to see who dies!" Sam cackled as she cockily positioned herself on the throne. "Everyone go to your pedestal!"

     We're doing this again? How is it possible that someone murdered here? I still can't believe that one Pokemon in this room killed another. I took one last deep breath before walking to my position. We all seemed to forget what happened a few seconds ago - except Loki of course. I was the first to bring a new topic into the situation.

     "I'd like to confirm, you and Sammy really are different people?" I found those words slowly creep out of my mouth, and it almost seemed like it was something inappropriate to say. Sam chuckled lightly at my question.

     "Well, I was playing with you all earlier - you don't see any blood here, do you?" Sam pointed to the charred speck in front of her throne. No one spoke. "Well, let's get into the trial!" Her words nearly surprised us. I almost forgot - we have to do a trial.

     "Fine then, since you're so impatient - we should go around the basics. The murder happened around the time when we were asleep," Rayne began speaking in a very calm voice, before glaring directly at every single one of us and continuing, "this means that anyone of us could be suspicious."

     "Well, actually...I feel like we can start with someone...Kanom!" Alice instantly picked her culprit as the Toxicroak held a serious and stern reaction. The Ninetales kept her persistent glare. "As we all know, we all found gloves hidden under Talus' bed, and it could be the murder weapon," Alice pushed the topic further to the Toxicroak, who nodded.

     "Yes, of course, the gloves. Did Rayne not say the rock was chipped from the pummeling?" Kanom spoke out as Alice shook her head.

     "Maybe they could have done that to trick us, we don't know a lot of what happened," Alice retaliated before a loud voice called out.

     "I don't think so!" Leon called out to the group before placing his paw on his chin. "I believe the gloves were indeed used...but what if the rock was the finishing blow?" The Lucario brought up a very good point, which could explain the chipped rock and the bloody gloves.

     "Oh this is unbearable, the gloves aren't gloves! Well, kinda...but they are brass knuckles!" Sam unbearably groaned.

     "Alright...so brass knuckles is it? But you're talking about the metal piece, right? There is still leather shaped like a human glove..." I murmured as the Braixen nodded hastily.

     "Great, you got it! Now use that single brain cell in the trial," Sam cackled devilishly as I shook my head in disappointment. I'm really not surprised at all...

     "Either way, Kanom could have done all of it, specifically knowing how he had the gloves." Alice once again pushed the topic as Laker chuckled lightly.

     "Heh, of course, Alice is the pushy one this trial, eh? That's quite weird, that's what Lancer did - but he was such a horrible murderer!" Laker uttered lightly.

     "Don't you fucking dare talk about him like that!" Inu cursed at the Weavile who seemed to flinch. Was he actually startled for once? "You thoroughly know that he didn't know the rules when he killed! His intentions were for his brother to escape!" The Infernape continued to hiss violently at the now grinning Weavile. Arceus, his composure comes back quickly - can't say the same for Inu.

     "Can we just continue? I would like to say that it would be impossible for Kanom to do all of this himself, seeing as how Gruta handed Talus a note," Leon mumbled as Inu sighed. Gruta, who seemed to be invisible in the trial until now, perked to life at the sound of his name. Looks like he kept quiet for a good reason, I really hope whatever Leon says is true. "We saw you, Gruta. You were alone with Talus, and you handed him some kind of note. We later found the note stating on how Talus should open his door at exactly three in the morning. Gruta, can you explain this?" Leon finished as what he said seemed to be true. I thought he was finished...but he spoke again. "You better not lie...I have two other witnesses..."

     That's the first time I've heard Leon sound threatening, so I wouldn't be surprised if Gruta did not speak. To my surprise, the Machamp finally spoke with absolutely no hesitation.

     "Gruta did not do it. Gruta was told by Kanom to give note." The very serious Machamp's expression didn't help his remark, but we can't ignore what he said.

      "So Kanom, it goes back to you now. Once again, you're being blamed again..." Grace mumbled lightly as she glared directly at the Toxicroak. Suddenly, Kanom's pedestal clicked before shifting to the center of the room. He was being accused.

     "Great, now I have to deal with this...show me what you all have," he groaned in annoyance as I rolled my eyes in annoyance as well. He seemed to be quite confident to contradict us - let's see how good he is at doing this...

     "You want something? I'll give it! You made Gruta give the note to Talus, and you entered the room with the gloves and killed him!" Grace began speaking as the Toxicroak chuckled lightly.

     "You're wrong!"

Contradiction time

Kanom vs. Grace

     "Tell me, how i'm wrong?" Grace huffed out as the Toxicroak smirked.

     "Where's your proof?" Kanom was quick to remark as the Eevee groaned in annoyance.

     "Weren't you listening? The gloves - err...brass knuckles!" The Eevee fought back as the Toxicroak shook his head once more at her words.

     "I'm being framed, don't you think that's a possibility? Considering how everyone perfectly blamed me the second the trial began - is quite suspicious." Kanom murmured as he hovered his dagger-like claw directly in front of his chin.

     "Or...maybe it's because you really are the culprit!" Grace hissed directly to the opposing Pokemon, who seemed to enjoy this.

     "Oh dear, someone sure is hasty. Trying to blame someone already, aren't we? We should note that as suspicious, heh. Let me explain how I could have never done it...sure I had the gloves...but only the gloves. You all did see me outside, right? I was nowhere near the garage when we decided to hang out, and when we entered to be greeted with Sam - I never entered the garage." Kanom did have a point, which I didn't like to admit. Darn, I really thought we had him, there goes that contradiction.

...

     "Well, is there anyone to suspect either than Gruta?" Alice began to lick her paw lightly in haste before glaring directly at the Machamp. Gruta was absolutely serious - looks like he has something to say.

     "Gruta could not have done it! Gruta too heavy for rope, and glove too small!" The Machamp spoke in broken English.

     "Wow! Something smart! It's a miracle!" Laker yelled out in glee as he snickered in Gruta's direction. I sighed, before beginning to articulate my own words.

     "That's smart, but we actually forgot to mention the rope. The rope is a very important part of the murder," I began as we all slowly but surely nodded at my point.

     "Yeah, this was the method they escape and brought the body down...but my question is th-" Aubra began to speak but was cut short by Inu blurting out words once more.

     "I'm sorry, Kanom, but I can't sit here and see you lie directly in front of my face. You did have a chance to get the rope, and that was after we all fell asleep." The Infernape called out as I nodded to her statement. Inu had a good point, but it was time for me to say my own words once again.

     "Well, if that was the case, everyone had the chance to leave and kill him, all they had to do is know that Gruta handed Talus the note," I spoke as three people in the room began to stiffen up. It was Loki, Leon, and Alice. I glared directly at each of them. "Do you know anything?" I smirked.

     "W-Well, we did see Gruta...Loki and Alice watched with me. We all did go directly to our rooms after...right?" Leon stammered before glaring directly at the people who also partook in the eavesdropping. Alice shrugged.

     "Well...there is a possibility it's...Gruta...kind of," Loki whispered as we all snapped our heads to her direction.

     "Kind of? Don't play with us now, Loki." Sherwood huffed as the Zoroark shook her head in disagreement.

     "W-Well...what if...there was..." Loki began.

     "An accomplice?"

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     Sometime ago...

     Estra suddenly sprung up in life, glaring directly outside of the cave.

     "Sherwood?" The Grovyle called into the distance before sighing once more. "Where could he have gone?"

     "Hello...Estra...we may need you for something," the sight of two entirely foreign Pokemon caused her to yip in fright - they only smiled.

     "Leave me alone, who are you?!" Estra called out as loud as possible. They now expressed a horrible smile. Slowly but surely, they trudged their way to the unwilling Grovyle.

     "Sherwood! Help! Please!" She called out for someone to hear - anyone.

     But nobody came...

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     Loki's POV

     I finally told them what was on my mind, I couldn't stop thinking about it. I don't know, it's almost like the explosion told me those words...I don't know - that can't be possible.

     "Accomplice? That makes no sense, only one person can murder!" Laker fought back as I began to speak once more.

      "It could make sense, it can be to confuse us all...or they could have manipulated the person," I stated as no one fought back to my reply. It seems like they are all taking it in now.

      "I'd like to add that if there is indeed an accomplice in this murder...they will not get punished! Only the person who did the killing blow gets executed!" Sam smirked directly at the center of the trial room. We all were taken aback by that statement.

     "W-Wait! That's not fair at all!" Aubra stammered before going into a coughing fit. "Darn," she whispered to herself.

     "In that case, then we should think of all possible accomplices in the murder!" Leon uttered as the whole group began to ponder. It was a possibility...I don't know if my mind is right, I don't want to let them down.

     "Well, one of them could have been the people who watched Gruta hand the note over, or maybe Gruta could be the accomplice - seeing as how he was the one who handed the note...then Kanom could have done it!" Laker said gleefully, almost as if he figured the whole issue out. Something was telling me the trial was far from over.

     "W-Well, that does seem reasonable, let's just go with that for now. Kanom, do you have anything to say for that?" I inquired as the Toxicroak chuckled.

     "Tsk tsk tsk, jumping to conclusions, aren't we? Sure, I do have something to say about that; where is your proof?" He was right, we didn't have much to back up our suspicions, so there goes that. "You have no proof that I killed Talus, and you have no proof that I told Gruta to hand Talus the yellow note!" I felt myself freeze at his statement, the biggest weak point I have ever seen in this trial yet! Both Leon and Laker seemed to have noticed it...

     "You have severely messed up...buddy," Laker smirked devilishly as Leon nodded, Kanom seemed to place his webbed hands against his lips in regret. I turned to him, before sighing.

     "We never said the color of the paper Gruta handed over to Talus, it could have been anything." I boldly stated as the Toxicroak began to speak once more.

     "W-Well, I may have eavesdropped Gruta as well!" Kanom stammered as Laker groaned.

     "Just admit it already! There's no way you managed to eavesdrop Gruta and figure out the color of the paper! Even if you did investigate the murder - you didn't know we were talking about the same paper...or maybe you do..?" The Weavile seemed to like applying pressure to Kanom, and it seemed to be working until...

     "You know, you're getting quite far...but are you sure Gruta's the accomplice? I mean, you never explained the uses for the rope," Kanom's voice trailed off as he turned to Aubra, "neither have you explained the mattress." The Toxicroak smirked devilishly as the Absol was now the victim in the pressure. She took a large amount of air before beginning.

     "In the bushes...I found a bloody mattress. I-I-I figured it was from one of the rooms, s-so I looked in one of them and one of the beds had a missing mattress...the room was called the "Guest room" by Sam," Aubra stammered heavily on some parts - I'm just happy she actually formed an understandable sentence for once.

     "That's very useful, Aubra...because if what I am thinking is correct, this could have been the transportation for Talus' corpse..." Galant spoke but was stopped by Sherwood.

     "I believe Talus wasn't dead when he got pummeled, he ain't that weak, that's for sure." The Sceptile huffed out lightly as I thought about his words. He could possibly be right...Arceus, without this whole 'accomplice' thing, this would not be easy - still wondering why that happened.

     "You're saying those brass knuckles didn't kill him?" Rayne spoke out as Sherwood quickly nodded to her question before articulating.

     "He could have possibly 'been unconscious. Now that I think about it though, that mattress could'a been where Talus was thrown on from the dorm window. Considerin' how it's bloody n' all." Sherwood hovered his claw directly on his chin before humming softly.

     "You could be onto something, Sherwood. If you're considering that then...Gruta is the accomplice," Alice spoke hopefully, but seemingly noticed upon her words that we have come full circle. Gruta seemed to be the only one...until...

     "Okay, you're back to Gruta again. I've had enough fun dragging this trial long enough, but It's sad to say that...Gruta is the killer," Kanom called out to all of us as we all glared directly to him. Our unconvinced gaze seemed to cause him to speak once more. "Don't get me wrong, I knew all along, I just wanted to have some fun..." Kanom snickered as I managed to see Laker roll his eyes in the distance. No one spoke, so Kanom saw this as a chance to talk again.

     "I admit...Gruta is indeed the accomplice, but could he also be the murderer? I wonder if a simple mistake caused that. Sherwood is indeed right that the brass knuckles didn't kill Talus, just made him unconscious. I threw him off the window and he landed on the mattress. Gruta picked him up very carefully and threw away the mattress. However, Gruta needed to fool you all by pretending the scene of the crime was outside, so he slammed Talus' head on the rock...which caused his death!" Kanom wheezed after his statement as Gruta glared directly at the Toxicroak in horror.

     "We had a promise, Kanom!" It felt like...Gruta's broken English was gone? He spoke perfectly now, and it felt weird listening to him speaking perfectly...was he lying to us? "You tricked me! You made me do that!"

     "Sorry Gruta, I had to, everyone was blaming me...so I had to take the fun out of the trial!" The Toxicroak smirked directly at the dead serious Machamp.

     "Wait! You know how to speak properly - wait! You two plotted a murder together!? And do you think we're having fun right now!?" Laker yelled as loud as he possibly could, speaking for every Pokemon in the trial room except for two of them...

     "Alright Sam, let's just vo-" Kanom murmured as Galant began to call out.

     "Wait! Not yet! How can we trust you?" He glared directly to the Toxicroak in question as Kanom chuckled.

      "Just ask the Machamp himself," his words caused the attention to shift directly to Gruta.

     "I...I didn't mean to do it, Kanom told me he was already dead. When he told me to hand the note over...he said he knew something about me before I was in here...I-I really wanted to know, I really did. I wanted to pretend to be innocent here by making a fake accent and everything, just so I wouldn't be a target. I...I'm so sorry, Talus. I'm so...so...sorry," Gruta's words trailed off into a sob as he wailed violently. "I admit, please stop arguing now, I admit!" His words stung us all in disbelief.

     "I killed Talus!"

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

     ???'𝘴 𝘗𝘖𝘝

     "Mom! You're home!" I called in the distance of the den, a Delphox stood tall against me.

     "Ah, nice to see you again, sweetie," those words from my mother only brought my comfort...but my glare soon dragged down to her wounds. She always came home with bloodstains on her shoulders, arms, or she even comes home hiding things from me.

     My mother was awesome, she really was the best. I love her so much...

     But she was a liar.

     My mother was a liar.

     I can hear my mother's name wherever I go.

     You must be questioning what her name is...well.

     It's Anna.

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     Leon's POV

     "I-I...I think I understand everything now. I hate to admit it...but putting it all together, it seems very true," I stammered as every single Pokemon glared at me. "Here I go."

     And then...I began.

     "The plot of the murder began as early as before Sam made the motive for us. The night before we entertained ourselves outside...Kanom offered the culprit information on his past life and asked him to help him during a murder in return. The culprit agreed and chose the time to do so, in this case, it was right after he thought everyone was asleep. We don't know how Talus was outside - but somehow the culprit managed to either bring him there or see him there for the note to be given. Successfully turning in the paper, the culprit and Talus left to their rooms. At exactly three in the morning, their plan began. The mastermind of the murder took a mattress from the guest bedroom, and Kanom grabbed a hooked-rope and the brass knuckles from the garage. Kanom arrived directly at the door with the weapon, sadly, Talus opened the door for his assailant. Kanom bashed constantly until the Lycanroc had collapsed unconscious. The Toxicroak dragged the breathing Pokemon against the window and dropped him down onto the mattress that the culprit had placed. Kanom then called out to the culprit and stated that the victim was deceased...however this was not the case. The very last command the Toxicroak possibly could have said was to make it seem like they died on a boulder...ironically, this was the case. The murderer unknowingly bashed the Lycanroc down into the rock, which resulted in his death. Kanom then attached the rope to the window, preparing to leave." I took a deep breath.

     "All they had to do was discard the rest of the evidence, the brass knuckles, and the mattress, all discarded and ready to be discovered by us,"

     "However, the unexpected murderer in this case?"

     "Is you, Gruta the Machamp!"

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