THIRD PERSON

A Weavile was completely alone in his room, nothing but his collection of paper cards joining him in his thoughts. He had already collected a hefty amount, any more and he would have to start preserving them in a hidden place.

Laker turned to his own motive card, his claws gently tugging at the edges of the folds. A small frown distorted his features, his gaze tearing from his name on the envelope.

"I'll reveal it when I have everyone's..." He muttered to himself in reassurance. "I can do this..." He heaved a stressed sigh.

It was hard to accept the situation ahead of him, but luckily, it seems he found a way to cope with it. The future spoke to him, and his retaliation was coming soon.

All he had to do was play his 'cards' right.

GALANT'S POV

As if I didn't miss enough already, not only did I miss out on a fake body discovery, but also an escape attempt. I'm never napping through the day ever again.

I would have loved to be in the know, but it seems as if everyone's questioning about the event was more important. I guess I'll have to listen to them for now.

"So...how did you...survive?" Grace turned her head to the seated Greninja, who actually temporarily retracted his tongue scarf back into his mouth.

"Well...It's magic, of course!" Vince leaned back in his chair and waved a dismissive webbed hand. "But I can tell you that corpse wasn't me."

"It did vanish whenever we returned." Vanta shrugged. "It must have been a very intricate decoy, I'm impressed."

"You only saw half of it." Zantai playfully scoffed as he picked at his bandages.

"Don't break them." Loki frowned as she eyed the Blaziken.

"Seriously, though." Laker turned to raise a brow at the Greninja. "If everyone says they saw you dead...then how are you here?"

"That's what I inquired about..." Leon crossed his arms and turned to lock eyes with Vince. "I heard you in the coffin, I could have sworn you were buried alive."

"Yeah, that's usually how it sounds like." Vince nodded and flicked his head around to wrap his tongue across his neck once again.

"It was incredibly traumatizing, you know." The Lucario frowned. "Your voice was weak and hoarse."

"Look, I'm sorry if I hurt'cha...but it was a necessary risk." He shrugged in response.

Finally getting a chance to speak, I managed to step forward in time to say my piece on this whole situation.

"Vince, if you did this with minimal planning, then how come you didn't do this earlier? We were all looking for an escape at the beginning, where were you then?" I frowned.

The Greninja actually seemed to acknowledge my worries with a small nod. He crossed his arms, cleared his throat, and initiated his answer with a calm tone. "I snatched up a memory gem."

A small delay washed over the room before Vanta tilted his head in confusion. "Wait, you mean the same ones that fucked up Sherwood and Loki?" The Umbreon seemed to find that hard to believe.

"Yep, the same one." Vince placed a thoughtful hand against his tongue scarf. "Although it didn't mess me up that way, if anything, it made me remember my past talents."

"Past talents..." Rayne muttered to herself. "I can see that."

"So you're a thief? No! An escape artist!" Grace innocently guessed, leading the Greninja to chuckle in response.

"Well, since someone in the group already knows, I might as well just spill it." Vince heaved a small sigh and stood up to bow to all the Pokemon in front of him.

Suddenly, the frog was shrouded with a thick cloud of smoke. Once the particles faded, there was nothing but a small log on the ground that seemingly replaced Vince's spot.

"I'm a magician!" The Greninja's voice called from above, so once we all turned we would witness Vince proudly posted up on a chandelier. "But I was also known for being an escape artist too."

"So I'm right..!" Grace sighed in relief. "So that body we found earlier..."

"...was a fake!" Vince confirmed as he gracefully dropped down in front of the Eevee. "It disappears after an hour...but I can only make one for myself, which is why I didn't make a fake Zantai."

"That is quite interesting." Leon muttered under his breath, his eyes shutting to further focus on his thinking. "I wouldn't have expected that."

"I guess that's the whole point." Vanta huffed and turned away to start making his way out of the room. "Stay safe, everyone. I mean it."

THIRD PERSON

The room had settled down into a small conversation after the Umbreon had left. Whoever decided to join after was there for mere seconds until deciding to go elsewhere.

Aubra had politely passed the middle of the group just to reach the kitchen and pause at the sight of someone cooking.

"O-Oh, hey..!" The Absol flashed a small grin.

A Luxray would turn around and greet her with a mimicked smile. "Yo, you hungry?"

"Ahh, not really. Just wandering." She sighed and stepped closer to peer over the feline's shoulder.

"I see." Luster turned to continue focusing on the boiling pot. Surprisingly enough to the Absol, the Luxray's tail was tightly wrapped around the base of a kitchen knife—which he simultaneously used to dice ingredients lined up on the counters.

"How do you have so much control over your tail?" Aubra tilted her head as she curiously stepped closer. Her eyes were trained on the rhythm of his cuts and his precision, it would be an understatement to say she was interested.

"I guess I've always had this talent." Luster chuckled as he lifted the tray with his paws and slid the ingredients over to the boiling pot. "Why? You wanna learn?"

"Uhh...sure..!" Aubra seemed unsure for a few seconds, her eyes curiously trained on the blade. "Do you think I'm able to use my own blade?"

The Luxray turned to tilt his head at her. "What do you mean?"

"Well..." The Absol flashed him a small smile before rising on her hind legs and slamming her horn down against a raw onion, slicing it in half. "I at least know I can do that..."

"Wow, that's sharp. I never would have thought." Luster playfully scoffed and poked the back of her horn. "But it's pretty inconvenient."

"Huh..?" She muttered as she dropped back to her feet. "How?"

"Well, you can't exactly chop things without giving yourself a headache." Luster grinned at her expression. "So it's better to learn how to use a knife."

From the other side of the room walked over an uncharacteristically shy Infernape. Behind her was a Zoroark, who seemed to eye her like a hawk.

"H-Hey, guys." Inu muttered through the grit in her teeth. "I wanted to say that I'm trying to become more approachable as a person."

"...and?" Loki raised a brow at her.

"That I'm willing to make friends with everybody." The Infernape heaved a long sigh.

Luster sat on his haunches to smile in amusement. "Are you being held hostage or something?"

"No, but I asked Loki what I needed to do to make people hate me less." The ape nervously scratched at the back of her arm. "And the first step would be to get rid of any bad blood."

"I get it." The Luxray nodded. "Well, I never really had any reason to hate you. I don't blame anyone for going insane in this shitty place."

"That's a relief." Inu cleared her throat and backed away. Loki was quick to follow the Infernape.

"Looks like they're saying that to everyone..." Luster muttered under his breath.

"So...do you have any tips for cooking?" Aubra chuckled.

"Oh, boy..." Luster playfully rolled his eyes. "Where do I start?"

ELSEWHERE...

A familiar Braixen was sat down at a desk, her pen gliding through the paper with momentum as she focused on the words. She was uninterrupted for a few minutes, her eyes glued to the ink seeping at the end of the page. She waited, almost knowing that something would interrupt her soon, until...

A metal door swung open, the light from the other side bleeding into the room to reveal a messy office interior. A very large silhouette shrouded the doorway as it entered, the mysterious being revealing itself to the vixen.

"Good morning, Hydra." Sam cleared her throat and backed away from the desk to grin widely at the Lucario.

"Good morning to you too." His baritone voice rumbled the walls. "It hasn't been a minute and I'm already cleaning up your little mistakes."

"I can assure you that's never happened until now." The Braixen giggled and leaped off the chair to tamper with a machine near a stack of papers. She pulled out a small helmet from a stand to place on her head.

"What is that for?" The jackal tilted his head, his scarlet-red eyes tracking the gadget.

"Nothing, I just need to put it on once a day." She cleared her throat before stepping closer and bowing at the Lucario. "Anyways, I need your help."

"When do you not?" Hydra crossed his arms.

"Your medical expertise is needed here, so I may request you to enter the mansion." Sam invited with confidence.

"You wish for me to convalesce the participants of a murder game?" He raised a suspicious brow. "Do you recognize the irony in that?"

"I do!" Sam giggled lightly. "This game isn't for the sake of their deaths, but merely for my enjoyment! If they ever do get injured in a non-severe way, I would like them to be healthy enough to experience their real deaths to the full extent."

"Your work is questionable." The Lucario snarled under his breath.

"Remember what we've both heard for years, brother..." Sam backed away to sit back down on her desk. "Mother knows best..."

Hydra quietly glared her down as she resumed her writing. "Mother knows best..." He sighed in defeat after taking his leave.

After the jackal was nowhere in sight, Sam found herself pausing to proofread her writing.

"This should work out...this really should work out." The Braixen mumbled to herself and scurried over to pin the paper on a corkboard. "Hydra's the only one able to control it...in case it goes south."

It seemed as if she had more plans than she let on.

LOKI'S POV

For some reason I can't explain, the outside air seemed fake. As nice as it is to feel something close to fresh air, I could still sense that things were manufactured to be similar to wind.

I'm not surprised, however. If things were to be controlled exactly the way Sam wants them, she isn't going to give us a break, especially after the stunt Vince and Zantai pulled.

Speaking of which, we had all gathered outside to discuss how the breach would affect us in the future. Vanta theorized that Sam would enable a new layer of security to pin us down further into the cage. Grace was saying we would stay locked in the mansion—which wouldn't be ideal for any of us if true.

Nonetheless, our theories were answered whenever a brand new event had just occurred before our eyes.

A familiar chime would echo around the outside of the mansion, leading us to listen in on the announcement.

"Greetings, everyone! I remember you all wanting some medical attention in the mansion, so I've brought to you a wonderful doctor! Please greet him with open arms!" Sam's voice cackled through the intercom before a loud click ended the statement.

The ground below us vibrated in response to a cage wall miles ahead of us opening wide.

"W-What the fuck..!" Inu cursed under her breath. "I never knew that shit could open!"

I was just as surprised. Why would Sam be revealing the entrance of the cage? Is it because Vince had already figured it out?

Before I could even garner any more thoughts, a group of Pokemon came marching in an organized fashion. Directly in the middle—who was apparently of a very important status—was just a blur to us from this distance.

I heard a small gasp, then another one followed. No one else reacted, so I turned to see who would have such a response. Both Vince and Zantai were staring at each other in shock.

"What's wrong?" I whispered to them.

"T-That's the fucker that stopped us." Zantai hissed through his shut beak. "That's him right there."

After getting a closer look, I realized the description matched perfectly. A very tall Lucario with a lean muscular build, his arms peppered with old scars and his expression completely emotionless.

This guy is going to be our doctor?