GRACE'S POV

It's been a while since I was this confused. Sam is researching a blind abomination of a Pokemon...what reason does she have to keep that thing?

On second thought, how does that thing even exist? How was it made in the first place?

I woke up this morning filled with questions in my head. Luckily, Vince's snoring wasn't too bad—at least as of now. He always left the bed and slept elsewhere whenever I wanted to sleep first...but I felt too bad this time to wake him up. For a ninja, he sure knocks the hell out.

Pawing my way through the layer of covers, I finally rose to take in the fresh air of the room.

I quickly realized that Vince was not in the bed, but hanging upside down from the ceiling by his webbed feet...somehow sleeping.

"This is getting ridiculous..." I muttered under my breath and cleared my throat. "Vince."

Hearing his name seemed to put a hitch in his snoring.

"Vince..!" I whispered harshly at the frog, causing him to mutter something unintelligible and tumble down onto the mattress. "Finally."

"Huh..? Wha...Grace?" The Greninja scrambled to sit up and stare down at me. "What happened?"

"You know you don't have to sleep on the ceiling." I frowned up at him before turning to gaze elsewhere.

"I already said I'd give you space, I don't wanna m—"

"Make me uncomfortable, I know." I cut him off with a small smile. "I appreciate it...but it's not that serious. You should get good sleep too."

"I know..." Vince mumbled and sheepishly turned away. "Did you at least sleep well..?"

"Yup." I flashed him a small smile, luckily easing his worries.

After a few attempts, Vince finally managed to fall back asleep, leaving me to silently exit the room.

Greeting me on the other side was Loki, who didn't look like she got enough rest.

"Grace, good morning." The Zoroark said with a gentle tone. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah...I can tell you didn't, though." I frowned up at the black fox.

"She hasn't slept yet." Sammy—who was already in the room—paced up next to the girl and held a paw up to her shoulder. "Do you remember yesterday?"

"How could I not?" I heaved a sigh and leaped up on the couch behind the two foxes.

"Well, I don't know how much I can say...but the Mingle had already breached containment way before the break even happened." The Braixen crossed her arms and turned to face me once again. "Sam couldn't find the key for the Mingle's cage after she opened it for testing."

"I see..." That was all I could say in response. Hydra had already mentioned something about containing the creature, so Sam being the one to lose control of it is expected.

"The only reason Hydra is here isn't to provide you all with medical care, that's just a bonus. He's the only one she knows who can overpower the Mingle." Sammy mentioned.

"It's not like we can do anything about the creature now..." Loki made her way past the Braixen to pick at the boarded windows.

Now that I noticed, the windows had been tampered with. Someone decided they wanted the outside light to shine into the living room—not that I blame them. Only a portion of the window was visible...at least until Loki yanked the final board off and tossed it aside.

My eyes had to adjust to the sunlight, but at least there was some shine in this dark place.

"That's odd...the lights should be on by now." Sammy seemed to utter under her breath.

She was right, the light system goes out at night and returns later in the morning...but there was nothing of the sort to be found.

"Yeah, Sam is definitely making us do all the work...now that she's gone." Loki scowled from the other side of the room.

"W-Wait, can't Hydra do anything about it?" I quickly mentioned.

"He could...but Sam probably wouldn't allow me or him in her room anymore. She may be gone, but she left her bodyguards to stay in the back rooms." The vixen crossed her arms before taking a seat next to me. "I almost feel bad for him."

"Who?" I turned to her.

"Hydra. He's a doctor, not a scientist. All he can do right now is just make sure we're safe, and that's it. Figuring out an escape means figuring out Sam's technology." Sammy's tone seemed to be saddened while she spoke.

"Can't you figure it out?" Loki turned to face the Braixen.

"Yes, but not anymore. I am forbidden from entering that room now...she made it very clear." The fire fox sighed.

Maybe I should map the entire cage instead of the mansion? Escaping while we know the layout would probably be a lot more helpful. I should ask Zantai and Vince how they did it; they stated they got pretty far before they were met with Hydra.

Speaking of which, I noticed that Vince had already woken up, and was making his way to the kitchen. He seemed pretty groggy, so I decided to temporarily leave him alone.

Thinking of yet another plan to escape...this is gonna be hard.

"Good morning." Vanta greeted as he walked past. He halted for just a small moment and turned to lock eye contact with me. "Are you alright?"

"Uhh...yeah." I flashed him a smile in affirmation.

"Hundred percent?" The Umbreon tilted his head, a serious tone now in play.

I forgot that both Vanta and Sammy were the only ones who knew what my memory was about.

"Hundred percent, thank you, Vanta." I tried to give him an even brighter smile, but it looked a little forced, so I simply waved him off.

It took about an hour for the rest of the group to wake up and gather in the living room.

Luster had prepared yet another amazing breakfast—which made me wonder; how the hell could we ever live without this guy? I have yet to see someone else cook in this house.

He seemed a little more dull than usual though—I could even taste it in his food, funny enough. Deciding to approach him about this, I snuck my way into the kitchen to surprise him.

"Yo..!" I chirped at the Luxray, who was distracted fidgeting with something in the pantry.

"Oh, hey." He replied, albeit slightly monotone.

"I know this is a bit personal, but...are you okay?" I started.

"Mhm." He stated flatly and turned away.

Oh, well that was...not expected.

"Hundred percent?" I decided to mimic Vanta and ask.

"Uhuh, just a bit spaced out. A murder did happen after all." Luster reasoned before shutting the pantry door with his tail. "Why?"

"Well...I just wanted to make sure you were okay!" I weakly smiled.

The Luxray paced around the room for a few seconds. He visibly contemplated whether or not he should even humor a conversation with me—at least that's what it seemed like.

"I'm not okay, no." The feline's voice croaked. "It's not what you're thinking about, either."

"It isn't about Aubra?" I inquired.

He shook his head in denial. "No...I went into the library, Grace."

What? When did he do that? I guess while we were all sleeping?

"D-Did you remember something bad?" I continued to ask.

"Yeah." He muttered under his breath and slammed a paw against a cabinet, nearly shattering the borders off their hinges. "I have a fuckin' brother I should be taking care of, but I'm in this Arceus-damned shithole."

I held the conversation in silence for a bit. Not knowing what to say, my only real response was to just frown at the Luxray. Finally, I waited till he faced me to reply.

"I'm really...sorry to hear that." Empty words, but it's the most I can do. I truly do feel sorry, but I know I can't do anything to help.

"I used to know Rayne really well, too." Luster cleared his throat and tore eye contact to glare somewhere else. "That doesn't matter much, though. My brother is too young to defend himself, how the fuck am I supposed to imagine him alive without me?"

"I-I don't know..." My main attempt is usually to comfort...but there are no words of comfort I can provide.

"Can you remember anything, Grace?" Luster's voice shifted to one of bargaining. "Is there a point throughout this entire game that you sat down and tried to remember?"

"I...was avoiding remembering. I recalled way too much in the library." I answered honestly.

"Hm." The Luxray hummed lightly. His gaze weakened into one of curiosity. "Well, I learned a lot about myself in that memory."

"Really..?"

"Yeah. I'm a twenty-one-year-old chef for a bunch of bad people. I'm talkin' gang leaders kind of bad." The feline seemed to gaze at something in his underarm before continuing. "It paid a shit ton of money, and it paid for my brother's injuries."

"Oh, well it could always be worse, you know." I reasoned.

"You mean I coulda been the gang leader?" He chuckled lightly. "Yeah, probably."

It could always be worse...

ZANTAI'S POV

For some reason, Sherwood thought it was a great idea to gather everyone outside and start doing some activities. I get the lights were out at the time, but even after telling Hydra to fix them he still assured us to stay outside.

The fresh air was nice, though. Luckily, there were new things in the sheds to play games with.

"Hey..! That's not fair at all!" I heard Laker complain.

I turned to see what he was up to, and to my surprise, the Weavile was pinned down by Rayne.

"What's not fair?" The Manectric chuckled mischievously. Shockingly, Rayne had a devilish grin on her features.

"You forgot to say 'go', asshole!" Laker playfully poked at the Manectric's chest before she let him get up.

They seemed to be playing a game that I had no idea of. I'm glad they're getting along at least...speaking of which, Sherwood and Leon were sparring on the other side.

Wait...

Sherwood and Leon?

Now that I notice it, they seemed to be taking their frustrations out in their fight...but it didn't look like they were actually trying to harm each other. Surprisingly, this is working for their relationship because they shook hands after every good hit.

"I guess you were right!" I hollered to Sherwood after his spar had ended.

The Sceptile only turned to me with a sly grin and shrugged nonchalantly. Bastard, he knew what he was doing.

"Hey, guys!" Galant called out from the mansion with something in his bladed hand. "I found another one of those gems!"

His words caught the attention of everyone outside, causing him to halt in place and hold up what he found in the air.

It was the same gem that forced Loki to recall a bad memory. I don't know if anyone would want to use that after her experience. It only felt like returning a memory was bad for you.

Nonetheless, the group outside began to jog over and gather back inside the mansion, leaving me to follow.

Who is going to be the unlucky one this time?