THIRD PERSON

The night had passed, and whether people were willing to accept it, they'd have to stay in this mansion for a little longer. Until the group could figure out an escape method safe enough for everyone to take, no one was going anywhere.

Up bright and early, a Lucario stood peacefully against a wall, his eyes glued to the plates on the windows. From the outside, it would seem that he was plotting something, and if it weren't for his restraints he could see even further into the roots of the mansion.

Sam knew what she was doing by giving him a restraint...but to the jackal, he questioned why it was only him? Everyone else in the building seemed quite capable of breaking their way out of the mansion, so why only put a restraint on the Lucario?

"Good morning..." Galant casually made his way up to the Lucario with exhausted eyes.

"Good morning..." Leon muttered back and slightly nodded his head towards the Gallade.

"I'm guessing you did not sleep well." The jackal frowned with concern upon glancing at the bladed Pokemon.

"Nah..." Galant yawned, offering the jackal a small grin. "I slept amazing, especially with a certain Greninja complaining in my ear."

The Lucario only gave him a blank stare, shrugging lightly at the remark. "If you insist."

The Gallade was almost taken aback by his response, his grin slowly turning into a concerned look.

"I was joking..." Galant chuckled.

"Oh, sorry." Leon huffed and offered him a soft smile. "I don't understand many things outside of my home."

"Ah...I'm sorry too." The bladed Pokemon huffed. "Maybe you can learn new things here—especially with how everyone speaks differently."

"Right."

From the other side of the living room barged in an angered Infernape, clearly on her last nerve.

"Someone get me the fuck away from this guy!" Inu spat out, pointing violently at the room behind her.

"What are you talking about?" Laker seemed to chase her through the doorway with his arms crossed.

"I still. Haven't. Fucking. Slept!" The Infernape muttered violently through her gritted teeth. "You haven't shut the fuck up this whole time!"

"I'm not sleeping in this dump!" Laker uttered with sass, his eyes now holding a sense of rebellion. "Who knows what this crazy bitch wants to do with us!?"

"I don't care! Whatever she wants, we'd all go insane without sleep!" Inu's voice strained. "So please, for the love of Arceus, shut the fuck up and let me sleep!"

Those were her last words before she shoved the Weavile to the side and locked herself in their shared room.

Both Leon and Galant chose to not say anything after that interaction, feeling as if another string of words came out an argument would occur.

Laker had already noticed the two near the end of the living room and heaved a tired sigh.

"Look, I'm not heartless. You can talk to me." The Weavile rolled his eyes, his glance dropping to his sharpened claws.

"Right..." Galant chuckled. "Inu is partially right. You could have just stayed awake in the living room."

"That's risky...too risky." Laker frowned.

"It was not risky enough for Talus and Luster." Leon stepped away from the wall and gazed at his room door. "Both of them were outside their room for a good portion of the night."

"How'd you know that?" The Gallade inquired.

Leon could only point at the sensors on the back of his head.

"I'm restricted from seeing deeper through the mansion walls, but not through the walls of my room." The jackal shrugged. "Which is mainly why I was baffled throughout the night. I have no hypothesis on how Sam was able to do that."

"I see." Laker huffed. "We keep thinking of Sam like she's alone. She's clearly got a whole ass team with her, a team of lunatics."

"With enough people, anything is possible." Galant rubbed the back of his head in thought. "Arceus, I hate that we're in this predicament."

"We have gone through it many times, trying to flee—at least right now—will be in vain." Leon crossed his arms. "So we pick the right time without haste."

A small yawn filled the silence after Leon's words before everyone's heads turned to the source.

Loki silently made her way through the room to crash against the couch. "Good...mornin'..." She muffled through the cushions.

Laker could only chuckle at her, his eyes shifting to gaze at an Eevee leaving the room with her.

"That bed's comfortable...but nightmares aren't..." Grace frowned as she paced out the doorway.

"I know...I had one too..." Loki pulled her head away from the pillows to reply.

It was almost as if those two foxes leaving their rooms initiated a chain reaction of more people entering the living room.

First came Luster, and lagging behind him was Lancer—who was clearly deprived of sleep.

Talus also had managed to emerge from his shared room.

Following that were three more Pokemon; Sherwood, Zantai, and Rayne.

All of the three Pokemon that followed after Talus seemed to unanimously agree that they should be silent, not even wishing a 'good morning' to anyone before making their way onto the couches.

"Good morning to you all!" Talus cheerfully called.

"Why are we still here..?" Rayne mumbled, her eyes completely still with no emotion.

"I'm sure it'll end soon. Just gotta find the right time." Zantai placed a claw on his chin. "The only thing we're separated by is metal reinforcements, I'm sure we're all strong enough to break through."

"And what? Die to the Gengar in the mansion?" Laker refuted.

"There has to be some other way." The Blaziken scoffed. "We can't just give up immediately."

"He's right!" Lancer called. "There will be an escape, and I will take every method to have it. I'm not staying in this shithole."

"Well...it's not exactly a terrible condition to stay in..." Grace remarked, her eyes glancing around the living room. "It's a mansion, and the interior is very nice."

"So yer' gonna let the interior fool ya?" Sherwood smirked down at the Eevee.

"No, but I'm not going to die leaving, either." Grace hummed.

"The most we can do is to have patience." Leon crossed his arms. "We will not gain freedom without taking our time."

"Fuck that..." Lancer grumbled.

"Don't get too happy." Luster sarcastically remarked.

"Morning." Vanta had sneakily made his way out of his room and approached the center of the room. "Sorry to barge in on your conversation, but we need to tighten up if we all want to live."

"What do you mean?" Loki tilted her head in question.

"First, we need to talk food." Vanta cleared his throat. "Sam said that she would provide us the sustenance needed, but never said she would serve us."

"You'd be right!" Sam's voice erupted from behind the Umbreon.

The sight of the dreaded Braixen caused everyone in the room to snap out of their exhaustion and glare at the vixen.

"Awe...I know I'm not your favorite fox at the moment, but trust me, I'll make it worthwhile!" Sam giggled.

"The fuck you want?" Vanta spat.

"I'm just answering questions. About food and drinks, everything is in the kitchen, and there will be enough to feed even the hungriest of Pokemon." The Braixen pointed to an empty wall towards her right.

Before the group could even be confused, the wall opened up and shifted to form a doorway, leading into a very large and brightly lit kitchen.

"However, there are only ingredients. You will have to cook it yourself, I'm not your maid." The vixen warned.

"Heh...you could've been." Vince slyly remarked, earning a grin from the Braixen.

"I hope you enjoy your stay, Vince." Sam giggled, waving devilishly at the Greninja and wiping the grin off his expression.

"What else are you hiding in these walls?" Galant stepped forward to ask the Braixen.

She seemed to take kindly to this question and answered innocently. "Not much, but there are things that you guys don't have access to. If you are good boys and girls, they will get revealed to you in due time."

"Question." Vince proudly raised his webbed hand.

"Mhm?" Sam tilted her head, pointing at the Greninja.

"Are we able to fuck in the mansion?"

This specific question earned him a jab to the side by Zantai.

"What? I'm being serious. I feel like some of you here will get desperate."

"As I said earlier." Sam shrugged. "I do not care about anything you guys do in your rooms except the murders."

"So your hunger is only for murder." Rayne muttered.

"Ding, ding, ding! Your despair is what I thrive on, and I can't wait to see more of it!" Sam grinned. "You guys eat up, I'll be back later!"

After the snap of her paw, she was gone.

Strangely enough, the group wasn't silent after her disappearance and immediately went on to be organized.

"Alright, who here can cook? You have to be competent enough to cook for a large group." Vanta stepped forward, gazing into the new room.

The interior of the kitchen itself was very tidy and clean.

"I can." Luster stepped forward and paced through the hallway and directly next to the counters.

"What? How can a quadruped cook for all of us?" Laker chuckled.

"You'd be surprised." Luster grinned, his tail flicking.

With ease, the Luxray's tail curled around a kitchen knife and slid it off the stand, making his way into the pantry.

Upon gazing at the array of berries and ingredients, the feline chuckled.

"Sam wasn't lying, there's a shit ton of things here to make." Luster muttered.

"So, you think you can cook for all of us?" Vanta tilted his head.

"I'll be in my element." Luster offered the Umbreon a small smirk.

"Got it." He nodded, pacing back to the group outside of the kitchen. "Let's go explore more, everyone. Luster is going to cook for all of us."

LOKI'S POV

Would it be bad to say that things were looking up? No one here is having a good time, nor wants to stay here at all...but at least everyone is getting organized and being more calm and collective about the situation. It'll all be for the better, I know it.

We got to explore the entirety of the mansion for about a half-hour. We figured out that some areas of the walls were more hollow than others, leading us to believe that there are two more places left to open for us.

By the time we all returned to the living room, Luster had miraculously served us a mixture of rice and numerous berries all chopped up into a decently sized plate.

"How the fuck!?" Laker gasped at the sight of the number of plates on the table.

"Your breakfast is served!" Luster grinned, his tail flicking proudly.

"This is amazing, Luster!" I exhaled in surprise, approaching a plate of my own and lifting it near my muzzle. "It smells good too..."

"I appreciate it, man. Next time maybe I could help?" Zantai offered.

"I mean...if you feel like you can." The Luxray shrugged and paced towards a chair, leaping onto it.

From her room ran through a fully-rested Absol, grinning widely. "I smell foooood~!"

"Good morning to you too, Aubra!" Talus smiled innocently.

"O-Oh...sorry, I was just hungry." The Absol nervously lowered her tone.

"It is alright. You're allowed to take a plate of your own, thank Luster for that." Leon offered.

Aubra's eyes locked with the Luxray's as she silently nodded and sheepishly levitated a plate towards her with Psychic. "T-Thanks."

The meal was amazing. I don't know if it's just because I haven't eaten in a while, but either way it was nice to have something of quality to eat after all the mess we've gone through.

Funnily enough, it felt like this was the only time everyone connected, as they were too busy eating to argue about their surroundings anymore.

"Mmm, you need to stop snoring so loud." Zantai motioned towards Sherwood, who seemed to grin at his remark. "Dude sounds like he's being murdered in his sleep, I thought someone already bit the dust."

This earned a small round of laughter from the living room, lightening up the mood just a bit.

"Man, I knew havin' a roommate was a bad idea." Sherwood chuckled, fumbling with the weed in his maw.

"Lucky me..!" Aubra giggled.

"Yeah, you're really lucky, Aubra." Talus nodded.

"Well hey, not everyone had a bad time. It was just a matter of getting adjusted." Luster reasoned.

"Did you have a good time sleeping?" Inu, who left her room while we were exploring, questioned while munching on her food.

"Fuck no." Luster playfully scoffed and motioned to Lancer, earning an eye roll from the midnight Lycanroc. "This dude went deranged next to me."

"I wasn't and still am not going to sit there without finding an escape." Lancer hissed out.

"Yeah, alright lad." Vince cackled. "As if we could do anything."

"I felt the same." Laker shrugged. "At some point, it felt comfortable to stay here, so I just stopped giving a fuck."

"You might be the first one." I muttered, gazing at my empty plate. "It's going to be hard getting used to living here..."

The atmosphere seemed to shift in an unknown way, and the feeling of being watched couldn't be helped. As I lifted my gaze to the group, everyone seemed to silently agree they felt it too, and it all made sense whenever a familiar Braixen shifted into reality directly in front of us all.

"I knew it..." Leon exhaled. "What is it now?"

"Don't you forget that this is a killing game! I'm glad you are all getting comfortable, but I can't let you sit there and be happy. We need stakes!" Sam grinned. "Which is why I'll be introducing a motive tomorrow!"

"Okay...why do you tell us now?" Rayne tilted her head.

"Because the motive isn't important right now. I'm offering a reward for compliance in my game!"

Everyone stayed silent for a moment before one person chose to reply.

"What reward?" Vanta inquired carefully.

"Well, it's going to be a portion of your memories!" Sam giggled. "If you all comply and understand that you will participate in the killing game, I will give you a portion of your memories back to you."

"And how do we do that? Hypothetically speaking..." Galant questioned with clear interest.

"Well, up until now you have all denied the idea of a killing game and chose to look for an escape. I can monitor you all and your actions, so I most definitely know when you're looking for a breach." The Braixen flicked her wrist back and forth. "So for you to get the memory I'm offering, you must promise to not look for an escape."

"And...if we promise and look for an exit?" Laker scoffed in awe.

"You die." Sam chuckled.

Those words ripped the thought of replying out of everyone in the group. Just how easily could she tell that we were trying to escape? How can she see us through these walls?

"I...see..." Leon muttered.

"Well, I know that's a very trivial thing to think of, so I'll give you all a trial run on how it feels like to return a memory...for free!" Sam grinned widely before stepping closer to me.

"Wait, wait. What are you doing?" I quickly leaned away from the vixen but was still pressed up against the couch.

"Don't you dare move." Sam hissed, her paw lifting to hover on my forehead. "I won't hurt you, I'm just...ah...here we go!"

A bright wave of light flashed across the room until my entire vision was clouded with nothing but a white void.

An emptiness of nothing until...

...

...

"Shit..." I hissed with worry, my weakening legs barely stabilizing on the tree. With hasty eyes, I glanced at my surroundings, noticing the smell of burning fumes overtaking my lungs. It was dark, the only thing lighting this thick forest were harsh flames.

While leaping through numerous trees all I could see were flashing colors of red and orange. I was leaving them behind...or at least trying to.

"Get her!" A voice yelled from behind me, clearly strained with emotions.

As I leaped further away from the fire, I felt a fresh stream of tears flow across my cheek and into the dark void below me.

I was crying, but I couldn't quite put thought as to why. Why am I leaving this burning forest?

Why do they want me? Do they want me dead?

...

"Loki!" A voice called to me. This one sounded closer than usual.

"Loki!" It called again. How was it directly next to me?

Then, it clicked.

"Loki!"

I quickly sat up in response to my name being called, my blurry vision weakening as my head throbbed with pain.

"Are you alright?" Galant's voice worriedly questioned me.

Then a vibrant ring reverberated around my head, causing me to close my eyes once more.

"I..." My voice could only manage that.

"It's okay, don't speak until you can." Vanta muttered.

In the background of the room seemed to be two people arguing. One voice is feminine...the other masculine.

"...and what if someone doesn't die and simply just gets hurt? No one here has the medical training to help them?" The voice of Grace hopelessly sounded.

"All we can do right now is avoid that even happening in the first place." Leon replied with a sense of stress.

I worried everyone by fainting, but I couldn't help it. All I could see was white...and then I was somewhere else completely.

"I...remember so much." I finally managed to mutter out.

"What?" Galant turned his head back to me.

"I know what I used to be."