GRACE'S POV

There were a lot of questions running through my head the moment I saw the tall Lucario step in. Everything Zantai was saying seemed to only register the closer the group of guards came closing in. Why would Sam add another participant? Is he even a participant?

"A doctor..." Loki muttered under her breath.

A doctor? Is he going to help us? No...anyone who is associated with Sam seems to be corrupt in some kind of way. Then again, the whole debate with Sammy is still a situation we don't quite understand yet.

"You can't be serious." Vanta snarled out loud. I turned to gaze at the Umbreon after his words, his eyes now focusing on the Lucario instead of the guards. The canine recognized the jackal as a threat...but I don't blame him. Someone of that size should hold some sort of power.

After a short while of walking, Hydra had closed the distance and halted when we were just a couple of feet away from him. He raised his paw, which seemed to be a signal to order the guards to leave the premises. With the snap of the Lucario's paw, they were immediately teleported. Did he have the same abilities as the Gengar?

"Hello." Hydra cleared his throat after his greeting, his baritone voice calling out to us. "I am Hydra, as you've heard."

"Are you here to hurt us?" Inu blurted out. No one seemed to question her this time, since this was quite justified.

"No. I am not a participant in the killing game, so I'm not allowed to hurt any of you." The jackal crossed his arms. Knowing how dead-set Sam is on her rules makes me believe him, but you can never be too sure.

"Right, but how do you expect us to believe you? After all that we've been through?" Zantai scoffed at him.

"I'm aware that we've seen each other before." Hydra turned his head to focus on the Blaziken. "But I am not above ignoring that."

"So you're our doctor, then?" Vanta narrowed his eyes at the larger Pokemon. Even Vanta was having a hard time believing this all.

What is Sam's plan? Introducing someone brand new to this game and expecting us to follow through with it? After everything she's done to trick us?

Whoever this is, I can only hope he's just as trustworthy as Sammy...but even that is a little bit of a stretch.

"As stated, yes." Hydra nodded. "However, once again, I have no intent to hurt you. If I was sent here to recuperate you all, then hurting you will not be my goal."

"Yeah, and how is a big man full of battle scars gonna prove that to us?" Inu scoffed. "Are you really gonna tell me those aren't from a fight?"

"I understand these may look concerning." The larger Lucario lifted his arms to mention the many scars on his arms. "But they are not from a fight...they are from an accident. I will not be going into further detail."

"So...no bad blood with me, either?" Vince crossed his arms.

"No. I understand why you would want to leave this place. I'm sorry you have to be here." Hydra dropped his arms to fold them behind his back.

The Lucario's words were confusing. If he was an admin in the game, wouldn't he want us to stay here no matter what? Having sympathy isn't normal for anyone associated with Sam.

"Anyways, a room has opened in the main hallway." The jackal stated before calmly making his way toward the front door. "It's a stairway leading to an upstairs area. You all should explore it and visit my office."

After his leave, we were left with nothing but our thoughts.

THIRD PERSON

"So, what do we think?" Luster was the first to break the silence after the group had gathered to discuss the new staff member.

"Sammy looks to be rather trustworthy..." Leon placed a thoughtful paw against his chin. "So there is a likely chance that he has no ill intentions."

"Can't you just read his mind like you did with Sammy?" Loki turned to tilt her head at the jackal.

"I assume not. In order to do that I must be mentally stronger than him...but with these inhibitors..." Leon's paws shifted to graze against the sensors on the back of his head, "...there's no chance I'm more powerful than him."

"Hm. So you were only able to do it before because Sammy is mentally weaker?" Vanta hummed, refusing to make eye contact with anyone as his eyes were already focused on the brand-new stairwell.

Everyone had already gathered in the hallway, and surprisingly, no one had even dared to walk up the stairs. No one seemed to step closer, whether it be a lack of trust or fear.

"I'm tired of this..." Inu groaned and leaped out of the crowd to place a foot down on one of the steps. "Whether you guys follow me or not, I'm going up there."

After a few seconds of silence, the Infernape chose to bolt up the stairs without any fear.

"Does she wanna be killed?" Sherwood scoffed at her efforts.

"Well, she's braver than all of us right now." Loki heaved a stressed sigh and walked forward. "I'm going to check on her, someone has to."

After a nod of affirmation from Vanta, the Zoroark gracefully made her way up the stairs to investigate. The closer she reached the top, the more apparent Inu's footsteps would become.

"Oh~! Didn't expect the next brave one to be another woman!" The Infernape met the fox at the top of the stairs to flash her a wide grin. "Come up! There's tons of cool shit."

"What do you mean?" Loki questioned before she was abruptly dragged by the wrist.

LOKI'S POV

Inu sure was adamant about showing me whatever was up here. At first glance, nothing seemed to stick out. Whatever she was dragging me into appeared to be a very long hallway—similar to the one we have downstairs. However, after practically slamming open a door, we were greeted with a very spacious room.

"This looks like one of those huge fuckin' gyms!" The Infernape let go to proudly place a hand on her chest. "I remember being great at these things! I don't remember the specifics, but this place feels like home to me."

"Uhuh." I let out a small laugh in amusement. I'm glad Inu found her purpose, but seeing something so spacious almost makes me anxious. I guess I'm the opposite whenever it comes to where I feel at home.

Taking a closer look around, the area was as big as Inu made it out to be. It would take about a minute to simply walk across the entire gymnasium floor. On the other side of the room seemed to be racks and lockers jam-packed with tools and equipment used for games and sports.

It's a breath of fresh air seeing something so innocent in this mansion, but it only makes me wonder if we all would even get along enough to play with each other.

Behind me came a new pair of footsteps, which rounded the corner quickly.

"Oh, damn." Laker had his breath taken away at the mere size of the room. "This is what Sam was hiding from us?"

"I wouldn't say hiding...like everything else, she just hasn't introduced it yet." I exhaled and turned away to peer into the hallway. It looks like everyone else had slowly but surely made their way up the stairs and begun exploring the rooms.

"You know, Hydra's office is at the end of this hall." The Weavile poked my side to point at the end of the hallway. "Now, I don't dare to enter there myself, but I'm sure one of you very brave ladies would?"

"Yeah, yeah, pussy. I'll do that shit later, I'm more interested in this!" Inu widened her arms to exaggerate her excitement about the gym.

After a small sigh, I silently snuck my way out of the room and paced down the rest of the hallway.

"Hydra's office..." I read aloud, my eyes training on the words written formally on the glass.

They really had this all planned out since the start. I took a deep breath, my eyes lowering to the knob.

A small turn was enough to have the door begin pushing open. Not wanting to intrude too heavily, I only curiously stuck my head in. "Hello?"

The room was well-lit but still had a gentle atmosphere due to the yellow lights. In the back center of the room was a large metal desk, a familiar Lucario seated comfortably behind it. He was already gazing at me, almost as if he knew I was coming.

"Welcome, do you need anything?" The larger Lucario inquired.

I temporarily ignored his question to step further into the room, realizing as to how organized the area was. There were shelves full of paperwork and medical utensils. After closing the door behind me, I also realized there was an empty white bed in the corner of the room—which is most likely for any patients who need it.

"Uhm...not really. I'm just looking around." I sheepishly grinned at him in response.

"I see. Well, I guess you could make yourself familiar." The jackal nodded and tore his gaze to continue reading something on his desk.

My eyes distracted themselves to focus on his equipment once again. "So...you're a doctor?"

"Yes." He answered flatly. I could feel his powerful stare locking onto me from behind me.

"Ah...do you do therapy?" I joked with a small chuckle as I turned to face him once again.

A small smile cracked upon his face for the first time. "I'm not exactly the best, but I'm qualified."

Okay, great! He has a soul! A smile is all I needed to see, honestly.

"Well, I'll keep that in mind." I let out a sigh of relief before backing up into the wall. I swung open the door from behind and waved at the jackal. "Anyway, be seeing you!"

With a small nod in response from him, I was quick to leave. Something about that experience felt really pressuring near the start, but I guess it wasn't as bad as everyone was making it out to be.

At least he seems normal when he smiles.

THIRD PERSON

It took a while to get used to the fact that there was a brand new area to explore, but the group found themselves adjusted at a reasonable pace. Even after hours passed, Loki was still the only one to enter Hydra's office.

Their suspicions were reasonable, and not only that, Hydra was even willing to not take anything personally.

However, a new 'patient' would soon make their way down the hallway, ignoring every other door as they kept their eyes trained on the office door.

His office door would soon swing open, and a familiar figure standing in front of it.

"Hey, Desmin." Sammy flashed him a small smile.

The Lucario wasn't surprised to see the Braixen here, almost as if he knew her line of work was similar to Sam's. After closing the door behind her, Sammy was quick to find a chair and sit down directly in front of the Lucario.

"You go by Sammy in this system, correct?" Hydra tilted his head, dropping the pen he had in his paw.

"Yup...it's to—"

"Hide your identities, I'm aware." The jackal nodded and leaned back in his chair. "I should probably do the same, Desmin isn't a name people should know."

"Well, it's not like it's your actual name." The Braixen warmly smiled at him. "It's nice to see you're doing well."

"Yeah, you too. You don't look the happiest, though." His scarlet-red eyes were trained on the Braixen's eyebags.

"Well, it's just a little..." Sammy tore her gaze to focus on every corner of the room—even the ceiling. "...just a little stress."

"I see..." The jackal eyed her suspiciously before sighing. "I've only gotten one person to visit me."

"I believe in you, I'm sure you can get more." She lifted herself off her seat. "They'll realize slowly but surely that you're no threat to them...unless you want to be."

After those words, Sammy was quick to leave, leaving the Lucario with his thoughts.

ELSEWHERE...

After returning to unknown premises, Sammy ran into a very concerned twin Braixen.

"Great! I need your help." Sam darted over from the other side of the room to hook her paws around her sister's shoulders. "Have you seen the key?"

"The key?" Sammy echoed after raising a brow.

"Yes! The key!" She was quick to answer.

"Why are you using air quotes for it?" The other Braixen shrugged her paws off her shoulders.

"Because I want no one knowing I fuckin' lost it!" Sam hissed as she leaped over to a corner of the room and pulled open a drawer.

"Didn't you open its cage?"

"Yes..! Which is why I'm looking for it! And if you don't help me, I'm telling mother!" Sam glared at the other Braixen before swinging open another cabinet.

"Fine." Sammy heaved a sigh and backed away into the hallway. The smaller Braixen silently followed a marked path in the quarantined area. It took about a minute to reach her destination, and after typing in a particular code in a machine, her eyes widened at what revealed itself on the other side of the door.

A very large, yet empty cell.