THIRD PERSON

Rayne continued to stare at the Weavile, her glare just as long as her thinking process. Some even questioned if she would move a muscle, let alone say anything to the weasel. After a long while of eye contact, she found herself taking a deep, tantalizingly long breath.

"I will. However, I will give it to you as a last resort. Is there not any more information for this trial?" The Manectric cleared her throat and shook her head. "For example, how would I have committed the murder? How can you explain the oddly placed knife in the drawer?"

"Someone seems to be digressing a little..." Vanta narrowed his eyes at the electric type.

"I am simply questioning your hypothesis." Rayne replied with a monotone voice as the Umbreon was temporarily left with his thoughts.

"That's a good theory, Vanta." Laker crossed his arms and chuckled. "But I could probably still accuse you after Rayne proves her innocence."

"You're saying this like you know it's not her." Loki frowned at the weasel.

"I'm prepared for everything." He shrugged in response.

"This is gettin' a little confusin'..." Sherwood scoffed at the Umbreon and turned his head to the sky. "First we think it's done by two 'mons...now it's done by one?"

"Yeah, to be completely reasonable, that does not explain Inu's reckless talking." Leon turned to offer Vanta a worried gaze. "Neither does it explain the door unlocking in time."

"Would someone be able to make that run in time?" Zantai tilted his head and tapped his talons against his podium. "How long did it take Galant to open the door?"

"Not too long." Galant placed his bladed hand against his chin. "But I did hesitate for a little."

"Wait...wasn't that closet door open when we got there?" The Blaziken quickly realized, his wide eyes now focused on the Gallade.

"Well duh, it's the only place they came from." Vince scoffed.

"Yeah, no shit!" Zantai spat back and leaned his head back. "I mean that as in like...if they took any longer the killer would have closed the closet door by then, right?"

"You have a good point." Leon nodded in affirmation. "They must have been in quite a rush."

"I could see that being a discrepancy, yeah." Vanta hummed and shut his eyes to focus. "But that would just mean she could—"

"Everyone stop." Leon abruptly called and raised a paw.

The Lucario's gaze had completely altered to be filled with pure anger. Only now could one realize he had his sensors risen, the appendages on the back of his head flaring with energy.

Finally, after a dreadful silence, Leon turned to Vanta.

"I apologize for interrupting you, but someone had an emotion that bothered me. I do not use my aura much, but I felt as if it could be useful here." The Lucario huffed and crossed his arms. "Someone in the room felt overwhelming joy."

"Huh?" Galant was the first to raise a brow. "Right now?"

"Yes, right now." Leon nodded.

His words would cause a chain reaction of every Pokemon in the room taking small glances at each other. Anyone with so much as a smirk would probably be persecuted. Vince—who usually has some sort of sly grin—was completely stone-faced...but it's probably obvious why.

After no one was deemed suspicious of this encounter, Rayne immediately tapped her podium with something to say.

"Laker, take my motive card." The Manectric commanded.

"Huh? Damn, girl...shit." Laker chuckled in surprise. "You change your mind or something?"

"Just take it, I'm going somewhere with this." Rayne muttered as she pulled out a card from the small tuft of fur on her neck.

Sam, choosing not to say a word, quickly dropped from her throne and skipped toward the electric type. After making a show of grabbing it, the Braixen trotted over to the Weavile and offered the motive to him—her hips slightly shaking in excitement.

Laker eyed her uncomfortably before unfolding the slightly worn paper. It only took a few lines in for them to witness the weasel visibly gulp, his eyes tearing off the paper to glare at the Manectric.

"Everything okay?" Vanta suspiciously gazed at the paper he could not read.

"U-Uhh...I think—" The Weavile was about to speak before he was interrupted.

"Say it out loud beforehand." Rayne uttered sternly, causing the weasel to flinch slightly.

Laker narrowed his eyes at the electric canine before taking a small breath and reading her motive out loud.

"Rayne was born without the ability to feel love and happiness, leading her to a very dark life as an assassin. She's had zero problems murdering innocent families for profit."

As if it was mass hysteria, everyone in the room would either gasp in surprise or silently turn to stare at the Manectric.

"Why would you tell me to read this?" The Weavile narrowed his eyes at the electric type and dropped the card onto his stand.

"Wait...would that mean..." Vanta muttered under his breath. "I read something similar to that in the library."

"About the..." Grace started, seemingly hinting at something to the Umbreon.

"Yeah, about the serial killer." The dark type nodded and cleared his throat for the room's attention. "Rayne, since you're giving up so easily, did I happen to read your motive?"

"You know, there is a big difference between a serial killer and an assassin." Rayne scoffed and clawed at the wood beneath her. "And you're missing something."

"What is it?" Vanta returned her offended expression.

"Leon." The Manectric's gaze would suddenly lock onto the Lucario. "Go ahead, read my emotions."

"You don't have any prominent ones right now." Leon crossed his arms, seemingly unimpressed.

"When have I ever?" Rayne rolled her eyes. "My point is that you sensed someone in this room felt joy, correct?"

"Yes." The jackal answered flatly.

"And would you believe that the person who felt joy was the culprit?" The Manectric questioned.

"I feel like that was what we all agreed on." Galant added with a hint of suspicion.

"Alright." Rayne huffed and nodded. "You just read that it's impossible for me to feel happiness."

Suddenly, her point was brought to them in an instant.

GRACE'S POV

I'm not exactly good at these kinds of things, but even I could tell that our progress had come to a resounding halt. Rayne was looking like the culprit throughout the midway point of the trial, and the moment it's about to come to a close she reveals something very important.

We all internally agreed that whoever felt joy was the killer, especially since no one wants to own up to it. However, Rayne being incapable of feeling love or happiness made things a lot more complicated.

"Not only that, I'm an assassin. I do not kill for pleasure, I kill whenever I am told." Rayne brushed her fur with a sense of pride before shaking her head. "So you will all have to figure out something new."

"We're losing time." Luster hummed, his tail flicking in annoyance. "How 'bout we just pin her as a potential suspect and try to figure something else out?"

"I can work with that." Vanta heaved a small sigh and placed his paw against the stand. "But what else would we go over?"

"Isn't Vince some sort of escape artist? Surely he could've pulled this off, no?" Luster offered his thoughts.

"Yeah, but the knife is completely clean...and the body is fresh." Galant quickly debunked, and if Vince could blow a raspberry, he probably would.

"Why Inu would say those things in the first place is what I'm thinking." Galant started with a small frown. "Would she have been forced to say those things or else she would have been killed?"

A small wave of silence.

With this silence, I had a chance to look at everyone in the room. Loki was deep in her thoughts, almost like something was bugging her the entire trial. Vanta looked a bit stumped after his lead was brought to a sudden end.

Aubra seemed to be gloomy the entire time, and it looked like Luster was busy cheering her up the whole trial.

"It's weird because whenever I talked to her it just seemed like I startled her." Loki frowned. "She didn't talk like she was being held hostage or something."

"What did she say?" Galant was quick to question.

"Well, she didn't care that much about the new room I found in the gym." Loki sadly chuckled and rubbed at her shoulder.

"Y-Yeah...she didn't really like much of that stuff." Aubra frowned and turned to Luster. "Are we sure the killer didn't catch her before she was about to commit suicide?"

"That could be another possibility." Leon nodded and shut his eyes to add to his thinking process. "If someone knew that Inu was mentally unstable...they would probably act upon it rather quickly."

"Hm...Aubra, you suggest that Inu was in a mentally unstable state, right? That could have been the reason she was about to commit suicide?" Loki turned to lock eye contact with the Absol, who quickly nodded.

"Y-Yeah, I'm pretty certain." Aubra uttered with confidence.

"Wrong." The Zoroark bluntly replied as she crossed her arms.

Now the attention of the room had stuck onto the black fox.

"W-What..?" The Absol stammered, clearly shocked.

"You don't pay much attention, do you? You really thought I was going to stand here and be clueless the entire trial?" Loki's glare was like a sharp blade constantly jabbing at the Absol across the room from her.

"What are you on about?" Vince—with an amused expression—turned to ask the Zoroark.

"I admit, I could have sworn it was Rayne...but I can guarantee that Aubra has been trying to throw us off track the entire time. Vanta, I don't know if you remember what you read, but tell it to us right now." Loki turned hopefully at the Umbreon.

Vanta gave her a quick nod before clearing his throat. "What I accused Rayne of earlier could still hold here...there's a library that holds our second motives, I'm sure we all know that by now."

"Uhuh..." Laker crossed his arms.

"However, the motive's memory can only be returned if the owner of the book has read it. Everyone else is forced to read a censored version." Vanta's gaze never left the podium, almost as if he was reading something on it—even though he wasn't. "After reading one of the censored motives, it is to my knowledge that there is a female serial killer that leaves marks after her kills. Her name or what her mark looks like is unknown."

"Right, so this leaves another question." Leon hummed. "Sorry to interrupt, by the way. We did not see a mark on the scene, correct?"

"Not from what I saw." Zantai frowned. "But I still don't get what you guys mean."

"Inu had a very rough beginning with her mental health in this mansion...but Luster, don't you recall me visiting you and Aubra in the kitchen?" Loki raised a claw to point at the Luxray.

"Yeah, I do. You mentioned that Inu was improving and that you two were passing by to say sorry or whatever." Luster recalled just like the Zoroark wanted.

"Something like that, yeah." Loki sighed with relief and turned to the accused Absol in the room. "Aubra, why would you say that Inu was on the brink of killing herself if you saw her clearly fine beforehand?"

No response was gained from her, only a startled gaze.

"Not only that, why would you be so adamant that she didn't like the gymnasium? She loves sports. I would know that, of all people." The Zoroark hissed.

Never have I seen Loki so angry. It's almost like she's talking to Aubra like she's the real culprit...and yet the more she talks the more convinced I am about that idea.

"W-Wha..." Aubra stammered with fear.

Luster didn't seem to aid her this time, all he could do was stare as Loki pried into the Absol.

"B-But...I couldn't have done that..!" Aubra's voice croaked. "I'm too weak..! I can't..."

"Well, you do have quite the sharp blade." Luster huffed and shook his head. "You remember back when you sliced that onion in half? I'm sure you could kill someone with that."

"In the kitchen..?" Aubra recollected with a distorted grimace. "B-But that's a vegetable, not a Pokemon!"

"It was a clean slice, that's all I needed to see." The Luxray shrugged. Poor guy, he looks depressed about all this...he must've liked Aubra.

"A-And the mark! The stupid mark that Vanta mentioned, where the hell do you think that is, huh?" Aubra hissed in response, clearly being put on the burner.

"Well, I got a pretty good theory." Sherwood called out as he nibbled on a weed.

"Go on." Vanta ordered.

"Inu died from a slice to her throat, right?" The Sceptile questioned as his talons would pull the stem off the weed. "If it weren't for that, she would have died to the cuts on her back...but that just don't make sense to me."

"What do you mean..?" I couldn't help but ask.

"Well, we saw the poor thing. Everyone could tell that her back was a total wreck, bones out n' everything." Sherwood heaved a small sigh. "She definitely would have died from those wounds before the throat slice."

"How does this relate, then?" Luster tilted his head.

"It means that the cuts were done after she was already dead." The Sceptile finally dropped the stem in his maw to speak louder. "Those are the markings. The markings aren't on the wall or ground, they're on the body."

Suddenly, it all made sense. Everything that we had all been working towards seemed to align with what Loki and Sherwood claimed. The only thing left is one question; why?

"I-I..." Aubra could only stutter in response.

"Do you really have nothing to say about this?" Vanta scoffed and rubbed at his temple. "Huh, I guess if you put it together, you can definitely tell a story with it."

"Only issue i—"

Before I could tell who was speaking, the area around us would be engulfed in a sudden darkness. It was very sudden, the pitch-black fog practically blinding me with shadows.

"You all are idiots!" Inu would call out.

Wait a second...Inu!?

I heard her voice just then, is she in the room?

"Everybody get off your podiums!" Vanta would call out, and before I could even respond to his order, the darkness faded.

In the center of the room was Aubra, her neck now latched by a metal restraint. Everyone in the room had paused after they presumably also regained their vision.

"That was a nice little trick there...trying to get everyone off the stands so they'd break the rule." Sam muttered lowly and paced up closer to the Absol. "I don't like people like you, however. You're no fun, revealing yourself immediately like that."

What the hell was going on?

"Get off me!" Aubra hissed...or more like...Vanta hissed? It was clearly the Absol's body, but Vanta's voice was all I heard.

"How the hell are you doing that?" Vanta—the actual Vanta—uttered as he watched her with disgust.

"It's not fair! You guys don't even know who I am!" Aubra's voice had now switched to a distorted one...I couldn't even tell who she was anymore. "You cheated!"

"What the fuck." Luster whispered to himself.

"Hehaha!" Aubra cackled, her pupils contracting like she was on some drug. "Hello! Hello! Does this work?"

I don't know how, but Aubra was somehow managing to perfectly mimic Inu's voice. Is this what I read about? Is she really the serial killer?

"What the hell are you?" Laker grimaced at the Absol—who was still fighting her restraints.

"Hey, idiots! It's me, Inu!" She perfectly mimicked. "I killed myself! I killed myself!"

She's completely delusional. Is she still trying to convince us that Inu commited suicide?

"Is this...is this the reason why Inu was speaking like that?" Vanta, who had seemingly reached an epiphany, also held a disgusted glare at the Absol.

"N-No!" Aubra's normal voice had temporarily returned as she faced the Umbreon. "You heard her! She just said she killed herself!"

"Arceus...you're a monster." Luster shuddered. "How could you do this, Aubra? I thought you...were different."

Aubra's maniacal demeanor came to a sudden halt after the Luxray spoke. Seems like she still held part of their relationship to heart, after all.

"S-Sorry, big guy!" Aubra grinned widely. "I don't really roll that way anymore, I prefer girls."

"I'm guessing you got your memories back, then..." Galant frowned as he was still trying to process the information.

"Of course! And it's such a shame you all would pin this on me without knowing who I truly am!" The horn-bladed Pokemon scoffed.

"All I need to know is that you're a serial killer with a weird talent." Vanta muttered.

"This is not merely talent, but hard work! Why would I spend years perfecting this ability just to use it on a nobody?" Aubra scoffed and shook her head with a devilish grin. "No...only my lovers deserve such a fate!"

"Right...I don't get it." Luster—still hurt from the reveal—could only frown at her.

"Don't you guys get it!? Death is beautiful! It's an amazing thing, and I want everyone I love to experience it!" The Absol stated as she continued to try and wiggle past the restraint on her neck.

"Are you saying that Inu is your lover?" Rayne's paw would point directly at the restrained Pokemon in the center of the room.

"More like...was!" Aubra giggled and playfully rolled her eyes. "I always try to enjoy my time with them first before ending it and blessing them with death!"

"So then your serial killer name...the one that was blanked out..?" I murmured out to her.

"I am the ex killer!" She turned her distorted grin toward me. "But that's such a weird name, honestly. I'm more suited for...a blessing in disguise!"

"I'm starting to piece the timeline together." Loki called out to everyone. "Especially now that I remember something new."

"By all means...go ahead." Laker nodded.

The Zoroark took a deep breath and began explaining the events that had occurred.

THIRD PERSON

Case 2 - Inu

It wasn't exactly a quiet night like usual, if anything, it was too busy. Everyone had just returned after the arrival of a brand new doctor; Hydra. Explorations were made and new locations were discovered, however, a wave of malice would soon go undetected in the mansion.

"How cute..." Aubra would whisper to herself after taking a close look at the gymnasium. "Too big and dirty, urgh."

The Absol had made her way to the end of the court, almost as if she had fully explored the area before. Her curious eyes landed on a set of doors, which she was quick to shove open with no problem. After a small flicker, the lights in the now visible hallway would automatically switch on.

"Woah..." Aubra whispered to herself.

The hall would reach a few hundred feet until a steel door would block the path. At the halfway point she would be greeted by another set of doors, this time made of wood.

Aubra gingerly pushed the door open with a paw, her eyes carefully peering into the room before entering. The interior was cozy and warm, so she didn't have a problem with walking in.

However, the moment she would step foot inside, a crazed Braixen would greet her.

"Congratulations! You're the first one here!" Sam phased into existence before an unexplained pile of confetti would drop from the roof.

"W-What the..." Aubra stammered in confusion.

"I don't have much time to explain what this is, but just read the book that's meant for you! Trust me..!" The Braixen grinned and levitated a book closer to her paw.

After taking hold of a green book and dropping it in front of the Absol, Sam was quick to take her leave with the snap of her paw, leaving Aubra alone once again.

"Huh..?" The Absol tilted her head as she attempted to read the title. All she could see was gibberish, so her first instinct was to flip a page open and...

All it took was reading the first word. With each letter she processed, a small smile would grow on her now distorting face. The feeling of overwhelming joy would soon overtake the Absol's body.

Her course of action would come to an abrupt turn. After placing the book back in its place, Aubra would dart out of the room and quickly lock the hallway door.

Giggling to herself about something, the Absol trotted down the hallway with numerous plans in her mind. How would she approach this new situation? What more can she remember from this?

And then, it all struck her down at once.

"Inu..."

The name made her shiver in a sense of nostalgia. Her body couldn't even stand still as she repeated the name to herself.

She had to find her.

The horn-bladed Pokemon spent a couple of minutes looking through every door in the hallway, searching for any possible clue. Aubra learned that if she waited near each vent in the closets she could easily tell which person she was listening in on.

One by one she would wait...a masculine voice would disappoint her.

She would wait again...a feminine voice! But not the right one.

And then, her heart raced at the sound of the voice she yearned for. The Absol had found the Infernape's room.

However, she did not want to risk her positioning yet. Getting caught here would be detrimental...so she waited. She listened in on every little movement, hoping to only hear one person; Inu.

After spending a while with no other sounds, the Absol would begin to quietly pick at the screws until she felt them loosen. Aubra lifted the vent up with her blade and dropped down into the walk-in closet with a resounding thud, even taking the time to put the vent latch back into place with her Psychic.

A pair of footsteps on the other side would pause...until they would slowly approach the closet door.

Aubra didn't even wait for her to open, she simply just turned the knob herself and tackled the Infernape against the foot of the bed.

"Surprise!" The Absol giggled and stomped her forepaw onto the ape's mouth. The Infernape tried to struggle for a mere second before she was greeted by a blade dangerously close to her neck. "You scream and I kill you right now."

Inu was seconds away from letting out the highest shrill of her life, but the mixture of a paw in her mouth and the threats seemed to make her immediately comply.

"Inu, Inu...I've missed you so much. It's a shame that you don't remember me." Aubra frowned and focused on the Infernape's terrified pupils. "Do you remember me?"

Inu would shake her head in denial.

"Wow~" The Absol giggled and heaved a small sigh. "Well, darling, I just got my memories back. You're my partner! Isn't that exciting?"

The Infernape didn't know what to think of this, so her only reaction was pure silence. After a while of being stared at, Inu could feel her eyes begin to tear up. The once aggressive and short-tempered ape had turned into a cowering and crying mess below the Absol, and Aubra didn't even know it yet.

"Arceus, the fun times we had. I only received a portion of my memories and I can already tell we were made for each other!" The horn-bladed Pokemon grinned widely. "So...would you like your blessing now?"

Inu didn't quite understand what that meant, at least not yet. Whatever it was, the Infernape could only shake her head in fear.

"What??" Aubra chuckled and rolled her eyes. "C'mon, we both know you've always wanted it. Why deny it?"

The Infernape just whimpered in response. She could feel her fingers shivering in response to her fear as they attempted to move a muscle. One wrong move and she would die, the thought terrified her enough to lay dead still.

"Urgh...it is kind of rough to not—"

"Hello?" A voice would call out from the closet she had just came from. It was Loki! Luckily, on the other side of the vent.

"Arceus! You freak!" Aubra would blurt out using Inu's voice.

"Inu..?" The Zoroark whispered out. "Am I in your room?"

"Hell yeah, you are!" The Absol scoffed. "Are you hiding in there?"

"N-No! I'm...in a new room I found at the gym!" Loki stammered, clearly taken aback by the aggression.

Knowing Inu would probably not take such an irate stance with the Zoroark, Aubra gently cleared her throat and continued to talk in Inu's voice.

"Whatever, just tell me about it later...I couldn't care less about that right now." She quickly brushed off.

A small moment of silence before...

"I'm leaving now!"

The best thing the Absol could hear at that moment were those words accompanied by a pair of leaving footsteps.

"Finally..." Aubra craned her head down to the Infernape, who was now a mess of tears and confused whimpers. "Oof, you're not looking too good. Hey, maybe being able to talk to you will help."

The moment Aubra took her paw out of her mouth Inu would attempt to slide away from her.

"Help!!" The Infernape screeched before being pinned down once again, her mouth now blocked by the Absol's paw for the second time.

"I gave you your chance..." Aubra heaved a long sigh and pinned the rest of her body down with her own weight, the quadruped's blade now lowered to hover near her neck.

Inu tried to squirm her way free, but it was clear that Aubra was heavier than her. The ape's last resort was to let out numerous waves of muffled screams through her blocked mouth.

"Arceus, even this is too loud. Sweet dreams, honey." Aubra giggled and reeled her head back in preparation.

She took one last look at Inu's horrified gaze. All she could return was a devilish smile before she swung her blade down and sliced the front of the ape's throat.

Inu's muffled screams were replaced by a shocked inhale, the feeling of blood gushing out her neck taking her by surprise. Aubra would finally back away, leaving Inu to begin suffering from a slice barely not deep enough to kill her.

"Awe, don't worry. I'll help." The Absol giggled and levitated her weakened body with a Psychic. She planted the ape onto the mattress before leaping onto the bed herself. "Shh...shh...let the sheets soak the blood. I need you to die slower for me, only after can I do my mark."

Inu visibly squirmed in hopes that she could move, but any attempt was in vain. Any inhale would immediately leave through her slit throat, and she could feel her consciousness fading. She tried to scream one last time and...nothing came out.

"Inu?" Another voice, this time it would come from the front door. "You okay?" The voice clearly belonged to Vanta.

"Huh?" Aubra muttered under her breath, just barely not audible enough for the Umbreon to hear.

"Inu? You sounded pretty bad." Vanta continued to press on, even knocking on the door a few times.

An idea sparked in the Absol's head. She took a good look at the doorknob, noticing that it had been locked beforehand. Aubra cleared her throat and began speaking in Inu's voice once again.

"V-Vanta, I can't fucking take it anymore!" She would cry out. "I'm gonna fucking kill myself! That's it!"

"Inu, what the hell are you on about?" He slammed his paw against the frame. "Open up! Don't do anything stupid."

"Do not open! I will stab myself if you do, I swear!" This threat would cause the Umbreon on the other side to pause.

"Okay, okay. Just don't hurt yourself. Tell me what's wrong." Vanta's muffled voice pleaded.

Aubra turned to gaze at the bleeding Infernape next to her. Inu didn't even have the strength to lift her head up anymore.

"Gotta finish this up quick..." The Absol stated under her breath before beginning to hack at the ape's back with her blade.

Inu's body would tense up at the new wave of pain as her jaw opened to scream, her dead vocal cords preventing her from doing so.

Aubra continued to slice up her back until she was satisfied, not caring about any potential noise she could be making.

After her job was completed, she made her move to quickly leave and leap into the closet.

Aubra peeked over the door as her blade was filled with a pink energy. In a split second, the Absol managed to unlock the door with her Psychic. She then made a very skilled jump onto the now opened vent hatch—which she barely made by hooking her claws onto a ledge.

Closing the latch behind her, Aubra had already noticed the lights were off in the hallway. Knowing someone could be nearby, she kept her footsteps as quiet as possible, even walking past a familiar closed door in the hall.

It wouldn't take long for her to go undetected as she found her way into a vent, leaving the crime scene undetected.

...

...

...

LOKI'S POV

It didn't feel good to explain that...but then again it probably never will. Aubra sat there watching me the whole time with a weird grin on her face. She nodded every single time I guessed the crime correctly. For the first time ever, I couldn't wait to see someone die.

"Well, well, well! Voting time will be absolutely useless, now that the culprit has...anticlimactically revealed themselves." Sam rolled her eyes in annoyance and clasped her paws together. "How about we get this show on the road, right?"

The Braixen waited for a few seconds before the silence caused her to wave her paw once again. "Right??"

"Right, just fucken' do it already." Vince groaned out in frustration.

Sam nodded and flashed us a bright grin before the lights would abruptly go out.

The only thing left was the giggles of both Sam and Aubra, both filled with joy for completely different reasons.

The execution would now begin.