Galant's POV

     I couldn't disagree with Leon's words. I feel as if I'm stuck in place, deciding whether everything is true or not in some sort of purgatory. I already knew what was coming next; I didn't want Gruta to die...

     "I guess...this is it," Gruta sobbed quietly to himself. He was dishonest—but he wasn't a bad person. Something about him brought a sense of innocence—honesty in fact. I guess I just fell for his lie...

      "Hah! How the hell are you all getting it so correct! Gruta is indeed the killer! Fuckin' loser!" Sam cackled loudly to herself. The Braixen seemed to slam her arm on the throne in laughter—no one laughed with her. Our expressions were either silent judgment, sadness, or Kanom with the cocky grin—directed only to Gruta. Disgusting. "Wow, seems like no one is laughing tonight, let's just get this over with as quickly as possible, everyone would say!" Almost on queue, a loud buzzing was heard from the top of the endless building. With the quick feeling of deja vu, I gagged as I foresaw the events. Gruta's hopeless gaze locked with my pupils as he waved for one last time.

     "I'm sorry," Gruta murmured very quietly as the large metal chain clutched him by the throat. Sadly, that was not his death—the chain was possibly going to take him into torture. As the same large television dropped slowly from the ceiling, we saw the impossible footage before our eyes. Through the darkness of the halls, and the sudden blinding light—the poor Machamp was transported into a huge room with large and inconceivable machinery. With quick whirring—the machine strapped Gruta to what seemed like a punching bag. Unlike Lancer, Gruta had absolutely no space to move.

      "Gruta the Machamp has been found guilty! His special punishment will be the 'All-Out-Killing!'" A static-infested voice cackled through the TV as the same music from before sung out to every single Pokemon in the room. I was accustomed to it already—I hate that I was accustomed to it already. I don't want to be here; I don't want to spend my whole life in this terrifying prison.

      A loud click reverberated throughout the area, and with all our glares directly on the TV, the machines started. The first machine had an arm-like appendage⁠—attached to it a boxing glove. Knowing this horrible place, that boxing glove was most likely made out of a different material.

      I suddenly gagged at the sight of the machinery lunging forward to the Machamp. Gruta struggled but was hit by the metal boxing glove to the gut. I saw the jaw of the fighting type open in surprise⁠—followed up by a violent cough. This caused the hopeless and terrified Machamp to gag blood violently onto the metal machine. The glove slowly pulled back until something occurred⁠—something we didn't expect.

     I thought it was only one, but no; multiple of those 'gloves' suddenly lunged forward at Gruta from directions I didn't even know existed in the room. They were not syncronized at all, however. Every one of them punched at different timings, directions, and areas of the poor Machamp's body. The closened screen filled up with nothing but the crimson liquid provided from the now suffering Pokemon. Suddenly, they stopped dead in their tracks. Gruta was sadly still breathing heavily, all bloodied from the pummeling he had received. With one last horrifying cackle provided from the TV, a large boxing glove sized as big as the room lunged forward at impossible speeds. It connected directly onto both Gruta and the bag, and with only a millisecond to see it, Gruta was blasted away with the object until the wall neared him. A large explosion of dust was seen before the Machamp's crimson red insides creased the titanium walls.

     I gagged violently as the TV shut off into a dark abyss.

     "Fuck!" I heard Leon yell out. It seemed like the first time he had ever sworn, but I didn't care at the moment.

     Gruta the Machamp had died, and he had taken the life of Talus the Midday Lycanroc with him.

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     The despair hidden in our bodies had now taken over as we almost simultaneously trudged to the elevator. With the soft cries and sobs from Loki we heard, I saw Rayne in the corner of my eye whimper quietly. I wanted to move, I wanted to help everyone in the room feel better right now. Sadly, I couldn't⁠—I didn't want to. I felt like I've reached rock bottom in attempting to help everyone. All those things I said a while ago about helping everyone not murder each other was immediately thrown out the window with this trial. This trial not only explained to us that there is a Pokemon here that will betray us⁠—but there are multiple.

     The silent moonlight was what we were greeted with as soon as the plate above us slid open. With the click of the ground, we all stepped off and glared directly at the now yelling Inu. The Infernape dashed immediately to Kanom and slammed her fist directly to the Toxicroak.

     "You fucking bitch! You should have died instead! You think this is all a joke!? I'll fucking kill you!" Inu blurted at the top of her lungs. Her body was completely surrounded by flames⁠—no one was able to approach her until she cooled down. Alice seemed to be confident enough to step directly inside the flames and wrap her tails directly around the Infernape.

     "Come on, Inu, you need to sleep," the other fire type softly hushed Inu. Inu's response to this was quite surprising as her flames died off and she hastily nodded. Kanom's fearful stare switched to a frown as Inu trudged her way inside the house. Leon hissed at Kanom before clutching him by the back of the neck and rising him off the ground roughly. The Lucario arrived near the door and shoved him inside of the house.

     "Disgrace," Leon murmured as he trampled through the stairs and quickly into his room. I'm not surprised⁠ at what I was seeing, everyone seemed to hate Kanom already. I paced my way over inside the mansion as his pleading stare met mine. I offered him the dull side of my bladed arm as he reached for it.

     "Come on, you need to get in your room before you get killed," I sighed to him; my displeased face was most likely enough to tell him I was angry at him too. Nonetheless, I escorted him to his dorm.

     I was the last one.

⁠

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     Sherwood's POV

     What if there was a place where all of this wasn't happening? I wish there was a place where people didn't have to live in this torture, like an alternate place. As my back laid softly on the sheets, my door received hasty knocks. I softly grumbled curses to myself before violently swinging the door open. I glared down to an Eevee.

     "Grace? What happened?" I grumbled in exhaustion before the sniffling Eevee below me replied.

     "Inu isn't...letting me inside her room. I'm scared she might...do something selfish," she coughed as my heart almost leaped out of my chest. With my eyes completely widened⁠—I questioned Grace once more.

     "Are ya sure? What is she sayin'?" My words were slightly more clear for Grace to conceive, but I didn't plan on talking for much longer.

     "W-Well, she says she can't take this place anymore. I can hear her shuffling around her room⁠—I don't know what she's looking for!" Grace hopelessly called to me as I nodded in affirmation. With a quick shuffle, I stepped past the Eevee and dashed down the stairs. Something felt wrong, Inu would never do this.

     I balled my palm into a fist before slamming repeatedly onto Inu's door. There seemed to be no response until a soft cry was heard on the other side.

     "Inu, please open up," I offered as her voice grew louder.

     "No! Go away, fuck off!" Inu cursed back to me. Her voice seemed broken and raspy from all the screaming she had done tonight.

     "If you don't open, I'm breakin' this door down right now!" I exclaimed as my last hope.

     "Here it is," a silent mutter from the Infernape came from the other side as my heart nearly stopped. I backed away a few feet before dashing at full speed. With all my strength, I slammed into the door with no success. I grunted in pain as I continued to slam my shoulder constantly into the sturdy wood. With one last attempt, I shoved the now broken door into the ground.

     I glared into the dark room until my eyes adjusted. The air in my lungs felt like someone stabbed it as I gasped for air in shock, a sight I will never forget...

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     THIRD PERSON

     Leon suddenly rose off the bed, the appendages on his head rising to detect a distressed aura downstairs. Tumbling off the sheets and landing on the carpeted ground, the worried Lucario fumbled with the locked door until it finally opened.

     "Inu!" Grace called from downstairs as Leon could hear their distressing voices. Something was utterly wrong⁠—the Lucario would soon find out what it was.

     Leon trudged down the stairs with speed as he turned to head straight to the Infernape's room...he saw...

     Quite a surprising sight...