GRACE'S POV

As if there wasn't enough stress in the mansion already, the fact that a portion of my memories returned isn't making it any easier. The way back seemed to be a lose/lose situation...either I stay alone with my thoughts or I return to the dead body of a friend.

Inu didn't deserve this, but neither did she deserve to stay in this hell. I almost feel jealous...to be able to be at peace in life so easily.

Actually, I do feel a bit jealous. Everyone who died is at peace now, no matter if they were a terrible person or not. I wonder what that feels like.

"I know this is too soon, but..." I heard Vince mutter as he paced closer to me. "Are you okay?'

Huh, I must have been spacing out or something. Vince probably noticed me staring at the corner...that's kind of embarrassing.

"Yeah, uhm." I cleared my throat. "Just a bit thrown off. Is Vanta busy?"

"Vanta?" The Greninja placed a thoughtful webbed hand against his tongue scarf. "He's in the room investigating, but if you found anything important then you should talk to 'em."

"Right." I heaved a short sigh before trudging my way inside. I don't know why, but the putrid smell of blood isn't so bad anymore. How did I get used to it so quickly? Did I even get used to it at all?

Now I had noticed Inu's state. Her body was sprawled on the bed, her back to the mattress as her arms were crossed. Poor Inu...I'm sure all those cuts hurt.

The blood that soaked the edge of the bed had trailed down the mattress and soaked into the carpet below. Now that I noticed, Galant was bent down on the floor looking for something under the bed.

"Vanta." I spoke in a harsh whisper to catch his attention. Even he seemed to be a little bit out of it, but luckily, our eyes met. "I need to talk to you, it's really important."

The Umbreon nodded and backed away into the front door and motioned me to follow. I pursued him until we reached a good distance away from the smell.

"What's wrong?" He tilted his head at me.

"A lot." I shuddered.

Why is it so hard to speak all of a sudden?

"What is it?" The Umbreon frowned as he sat on his haunches.

"W-Well, I went exploring and found a room that I wasn't supposed to be in yet." I muttered to him, my gaze unsure as to where to look.

Vanta only kept calmly staring at me, allowing me to continue.

"A-And...there was an unspoken rule to that room that Sammy told me." I cleared my throat to finish off the thought. "It's a library containing books with a portion of our worst memories. After reading it...I feel like...it's the same as those memory gems. The moment I read what was inside it felt like I immediately knew exactly what it was talking about."

"...what was the unspoken rule?" When I looked back I realized that Vanta was glaring at the ground.

"I-It was...that anyone who enters the room is forced to read one of their entries."

"I see." He heaved a long sigh and finally locked eye contact with me. "Are you alright?"

"Y-Yea—"

"I mean it, Grace." Vanta raised his voice by merely a decibel, but it was enough to freeze me completely. "You're only telling me this because something must have happened. Did you remember something bad?"

I feel like he knows somehow...but it's obvious now that I realize. Why else would I be giving this information? Should I even tell him?

I opened my mouth to speak, the feeling of something choking me out of my words always seemed to interrupt me. Why does this feel so familiar?

"I-I..." That's all I could muster out before the Umbreon shut his eyes, easing me of some of the pressure. "I think I remembered that I'm a very self-destructive person."

A few seconds of silence passed before the dark type opened his eyes up to me. Whenever our irises met, his were filled with a hint of care.

"It'll be okay." He reassured me with a small smile, a very rare sight. "If you ever feel unsafe, come to me, okay?"

"Thank you..." I felt myself tear up. "A lot...thank you."

...

GALANT'S POV

"Nope...nothing under the bed." I muttered to myself. "Also, what do you mean it was both of us?"

"Well, that's exactly what I meant. I don't believe Inu would kill herself, she had no reason to." Laker crossed his arms.

Unfortunately, Vanta wasn't in the room to take my defense, but I was more than willing to state my reason.

"Vanta said that Inu was talking really self-destructive before this, right?" I stood back up on my feet to face the Weavile.

"Yeah, but that's if what he says is true or not. You can't have that as your defense if he's also being prosecuted for it." He narrowed his eyes on me.

"What makes your idea of the situation more true than ours? You weren't even nearby." I crossed my arms.

"Guys, this isn't gonna work." Loki stepped in, a large frown now apparent on her features. "This is exactly why we have to save all of this for the trial."

"Right, we do not have much time to spare." Leon nodded at her words before shifting his gaze in my direction. "Galant, as much as I'd like to believe you...just save it for the trial. We must look for information."

Hate to admit it, but he was right. I don't know how much time we have left, but it'd have to be just an hour by now.

It took a few minutes for everyone to stop blaming each other and finally begin to search for more evidence. Loki seemed to have a lot to say but physically held herself back.

The past thirty minutes were spent searching and theorizing the positioning of both the unnamed suspect and the victim. Laker still held onto the fact that Inu was murdered, but something about how everything lined up felt like a suicide.

Nonetheless, gathering evidence for this murder seemed impossible. Other than the corpse, everything else around the room was spotless. Whoever committed this crime was very experienced in doing so.

Now that I think about it, how would anyone know about their experience in committing this crime? It took Vince getting his hands on a memory gem for his magician expertise, so maybe someone got access to another? I'd have to bring this up later in the trial.

"That's weird." Zantai muttered under his breath. I turned to gaze at the Blaziken, who was craning his head to carefully eye something in the closet ceiling. "Isn't there supposed to be a vent here?"

"You're right..." Loki mentioned and squeezed past the bird to widen her eyes at the hatch. "There was an air vent before!"

"Before as in like...?" Laker tilted his head at the black fox.

"It's hard to describe but trust me. I'll explain it during the trial." Loki sighed and poked at the Blaziken's arm. "Zantai, can you get me up there?"

"Yeah, sure." He shrugged and offered the Zoroark his talon. After a short struggle, Zantai managed to wrap his claws very carefully around her waist to lift the girl into the duct.

Loki quickly took hold of something on the other side of the vent hole as her legs rose to disappear into the upper floor. I made my way closer with a small jog and turned to gaze up at the ceiling.

The Zoroark was staring down at the two of us from the next floor, her eyes seemingly unsure of the situation.

"I can fit..." She frowned. "Someone else could have definitely fit through here, too."

"I see." Leon heaved a long sigh from behind me. "Then both situations are possible."

"Both situations, huh?" Laker crossed his arms, clearly unimpressed. "We'll just have to find out based on alibis."

This trial was going to be difficult. Other than a few niche situations, we have no real concrete evidence.

Although, Loki did have some things she wanted to say. Hopefully, she knows more than what she's letting on.

THIRD PERSON

"So it's here?" Vanta nodded at the Eevee next to him.

"Yeah, but I'm warning you, once you enter you have to read your entry." Grace eyed the Umbreon with worry as they paced down the hall to reach the infamous set of doors.

"I'll be fine." The dark type cleared his throat and turned to rise on his hind legs and pull the handle down. After shoving through the door the Umbreon was immediately greeted by a rudely awakened Braixen.

"Hello." Sam, who looked quite stressed, crossed her arms at the canine. "I don't have much time so I'm going to tell you what this room is for."

"I already know what it's for." Vanta sat on his haunches and glared at the vixen. "Just give me my book."

"Oh, great!" The Braixen chirped with a wide smile before pulling a book toward her with unexplained telekinesis. "Here."

Vanta wrapped his paws around the cover to analyze it with care. His scarlet-red eyes scrolled across the script in an attempt to understand it but merely ignored it after passing it as unintelligible. The canine took a deep breath and slipped a claw through the end and flipped open the book.

The moment his eyes met the paper was when his brain recalled a brand new moment—especially one that he would soon never forget.

...

"Log 1: Project Vanta"

"Subject seems to be incapable of understanding that our procedures are hurting him. According to multiple lab results, sections of the nervous system in his brain have prevented the feeling of pain from communicating throughout his body. This is of the utmost usefulness since testing has always been postponed due to many subjects being incapable of withstanding the pain."

"We will need to relocate the subject with Project Hydra."

"End of Log 1."

...

By the time Vanta snapped back into reality, Sam was gone. The Umbreon was alone in the room with nothing left but his thoughts.

"Hydra was..." The canine muttered to himself. Somehow, the feared doctor was involved in his past. Exactly how he was involved is a completely different question.

Disregarding that, Vanta had realized that the rule of the library was followed. His first move was to leap away from his book and begin shuffling through the rest of them lining the walls.

Even though they were censored for the public, Vanta figured any extra information he could gather would be infinitely more useful than being left in the dark.

If anything, it could save his life.

THIRD PERSON

Two hours had passed and everyone had gathered in the living room after the announcement. The group seemed a bit hesitant with their knowledge of the case.

After a few minutes, the rest of the missing Pokemon would soon arrive at the center.

"Is everyone here?" Vanta questioned as he positioned himself in the center of the room. After a unanimous nod from the rest, he took a deep breath. "I want you all to know that even if we aren't sure, we can still figure this out."

"Right." Galant nodded and huffed. "So long as we handle this with care."

"Uhuh," Laker muttered, his stare locked on nowhere in particular, "don't say I didn't tell you so."

And so, the ground below them would detach into a circular platform, leading them down the pit. The light above them faded away as the ceiling was closed in.

"Are we even ready for this?" Rayne's voice sounded through the pitch black.

"Hopefully." Loki cleared her throat. "I have a lot to talk about."

"I do too." Vanta sighed. "Especially about a certain room I found."