LEON'S POV

Our expedition—for lack of better words, seeing as how it was only Hydra who was injured—was a temporary success.

A machine of great size was discovered here, seemingly abandoned by Sam herself.

"So...what the hell are we gonna do with this thing?" Zantai uttered from the darkness.

We all agreed that splitting up and searching for each corner of the room would help us gauge the size. The basement itself wasn't too large; about the same size as the living room.

The only issue was figuring out the purpose of this mechanism...especially since it's stocked up with memory gems in its interior.

"Hey...Zantai." Rayne muttered and turned her light toward the Blaziken. "You have a string on your foot. Don't trip."

"Huh?" Zantai hummed in response and lifted his foot.

I don't know how she saw it, but a tight string was stuck on one of his talons.

"U-Uh...don't freak out, but take a step back." Loki cautioned, her eyes widening at the sight of something above the Blaziken.

Zantai didn't bother to question and immediately leaped backward, the string from his claws snapping.

We all flinched like something was about to happen...but nothing did.

Gazing up at where Loki had been staring, I noticed a row of sharp-looking spikes. It was quite the deadly-looking trap...but it had clearly been disabled, otherwise, Zantai would have triggered it.

"Hydra was correct, I suppose." I recalled with a small frown.

"They look bloodied, too." Rayne keenly noted, making sure to charge the energy in her mane so the light would gleam brighter.

This allowed me to see what she was referring to; a streak of fresh blood lining the sides of a few spikes.

"Was that the trap he got hit by?" Loki worriedly questioned and turned to the stairway. "Are we sure he's alive?"

"He's probably fine." Vanta—who never stopped analyzing the machine—reassured. "He's a doctor...and somehow related to me."

"Hm?" Zantai crossed his arms at the Umbreon. "What do you mean?"

"A while back whenever I went to the motive library, I remember my memory being that I'm incapable of feeling pain." Vanta turned to the Blaziken and pricked his forepaw with his own claw, drawing a minimal amount of blood and not flinching a muscle while doing so. "I'm not doing this to seem stoic...I'm genuinely missing a nerve ending."

"So are you saying Hydra is the same way?" Loki turned to the Umbreon with a small frown.

"I don't know, but if he comes from where I'm from...he's definitely not normal." Vanta huffed lightly.

So that was Vanta's memory. I am not surprised, though...someone like him must have had quite a rough upbringing to be this stern.

"Anyway, is that all that's here?" Zantai butted in before anyone could comment further.

"I believe so." Rayne cleared her throat and turned to start leading toward the basement stairs. "We're leaving."

It seemed as if it was a mutual agreement that going inside the machine was dangerous—at least with the knowledge we have now.

With nothing else in mind, everyone had gathered to discuss further action in the living room.

"To be completely honest, I'm not sure what to do with this information." Vanta leaped onto the couch, his eyes glancing towards the center of the room.

"We have yet to find any escape...aside from the one Zantai and Vince found." Loki muttered.

"Yeah, I was gonna comment on how little leads we have." Zantai crossed his arms to lean against the living room walls.

"Aside from the basement, there hasn't been anything new for us to explore." The Umbreon cleared his throat and hopped off the comforts towards his room. "How many days do we have left?"

"Seeing as how she gave us a week, we have about four days remaining." I answered, my eyes now glued to the floor.

"We ain't got a reason to worry." Sherwood shrugged. "We still have enough time to plan a breach."

"I don't think it would be too far off to say that Sam only made one exit...that being the one Vince found." Grace added with a small hint of worry. "Any other form of escape would have to be loud."

It seemed as if we had reached the end of our leads.

Come to think of it, it always felt that way until someone discovered another hidden room. I wish I could master this hindered aura.

Sam knew what she was doing with this; attaching aura inhibitors to my sensors was so I could not discover things too quickly—or at all.

She does have a Lucario sibling...perhaps that is why she thought of it in the first place?

No matter, I know that a few meters is my maximum distance. Taking what I have and making the most out of it is probably the best chance of survival.

That's right, things have been getting just a bit too comfortable lately. All it takes is for the break week to end and someone's foolish decision for another trial.

We don't know it yet, but we're on a very deadly timer.

GALANT'S POV

...

Things aren't the same as they used to be about an hour ago.

I heard a basement was found hidden in the main stairway, which would be an interest of mine...but I couldn't care less.

I truly am a horrible person, aren't I?

What makes me different from the rest of the previous culprits? I too have murdered someone before.

That memory displayed a side of me I didn't even know existed. How Sam does it is completely unknown to me; being able to display the thinking process I had during the event was a miraculous feature.

And yet, I don't act like I used to. Aubra's instincts returned immediately upon regaining her memories. But me?

I'm still crying about it right now. That's probably the best I could ask for, though...maybe it's a good thing that I feel shame. I wouldn't want to end up like everyone else.

"Galant?" I heard a light voice worriedly call to me.

I was outside resting completely still on the grass, I wouldn't have been surprised if someone reacted like they witnessed a dead body.

"I'm alive..." I muttered lazily before raising my blade halfway in the air.

"Good." It was Sammy, presumably leaving the mansion to do something further down the path. "Listen, I'm heading back inside."

The only thing I gave her was a small nod before turning back to the sky...

Wait...

"Huh?" A delayed realization, but I managed to notice nonetheless. "How? Aren't you forbidden?"

"I am, but I believe I can get pretty far without being noticed." The short Braixen heaved a small sigh. "Anyway, I need you to do something for me."

"What is it?" If she didn't have it before, she has my full attention now.

"I need you to watch every move I make when nearing the north wall." She urged, her eyes completely determined. "I need at least one person to know what to do in case I die."

"K-Know what to do? In case you die?" I could only echo.

"No worries." Sammy cleared her throat and paced forward.

Choosing to not question her any further, I simply just watched. Her movements were confident, almost as if she was doing a routine of some sort.

It took her a few minutes to start nearing the wall—after all, the sheer distance needed to travel was quite a lot. With that being the case, however, she made that mile walk look easy.

From this distance, she looked like a speck of orange and black colors...I guess my vision is failing me.

I narrowed my eyes to look closer, realizing that she had come to a complete halt.

The Braixen held her posture for a moment and raised her arms to fidget against the wall. She did so until her paws socketed into an indent on the wall, causing the metal wall to slowly detach similar to a sliding door.

Sammy leaped into the dark abyss on the other side as the wall very quickly closed behind her. Seems like the timing is very strict on that opening.

I wonder what's it like...behind all of that?

Only she would know, at least for now.

THIRD PERSON

A nearly endless bright hallway. The path was devoid of any color other than the fluorescent lights above.

"Like nothing ever happened." Sammy muttered to herself as she trudged through each corner.

The Braixen relied on the fact that it was most likely too early for most of Sam's guards to realize she was forbidden from entry. Perhaps if she tried hard enough, she could even pretend to be Sam.

Yet she still felt the dread of the chances she was caught. To everyone in the mansion, it wouldn't be farfetched to say Sam's punishment would be death for trespassing.

After all, Vince and Zantai escaped death merely due to her entertainment in their attempt. Her mind was sick and demented enough to toss them back into the game, hoping they would try again.

Just to be left with the same despair.

"Here we are." The short Braixen whispered as she managed a complex-looking panel on the wall. It took her a few seconds to get the long code right, but she was soon rewarded with a door rising open for her.

The office was nothing but a mess. Papers were hastily scattered across the ground, seemingly in an attempt to clear the corkboard or desk in the center of the room. Addressing the latter, there was a fresh sheet of paper neatly tucked into a clipboard—which immediately caught the eye of the vixen.

Sammy rushed over to the front of the desk and swiped her paw to pick up the document.

The page was nearly blank; nothing more than the words "Subject 1" were written in the top center of the sheet.

To anyone else, this would seem like the beginning of some random science experiment—they would at least be half right, however.

To Sammy, this was horrible news. She knew exactly what this meant.

"Arceus...she did it." The Braixen uttered in disbelief.

"Hello?" A voice called to her from somewhere in the room.

Sammy flinched and dropped the clipboard onto the floor, an audible smack resonating in the room. Her eyes did not pick up on anything once she turned, however.

"Please..." The voice continued, this time from the Braixen's left.

The vixen quickly noticed that the muffled noise was occurring from the testing cell built into Sam's office. Upon closer inspection, she even noticed a glowing memory gem attached to a small mechanism—its origin or purpose being completely unknown.

"H-Hello?" Sammy timidly called out to the other side of the wall.

The chamber's door was completely sealed, and next to it was a lever that would open said door.

"O-Oh..! Thank Arceus, p-please help me. I need your help." The voice was now discernable enough to tell it was a young male.

Sammy's gaze was locked onto the large switch that would open the chamber, her mind attempting to gauge the safety hazard in opening it.

She trusted her gut, however, and with her full force...

The lever was pulled.

...

The vault-like door was painfully slow, leaving the Braixen dreading whatever was on the other side.

As the wall continued to rise, she soon noticed some prominent features from the subject on the other side.

White paws with dark claws...blood trickling down their forearms and pooling on the ground.

Whatever sense of prediction she had was thrown out the window as she was greeted by none other than a half-dead midday Lyancroc, a large bloodied scar practically mutilating his face.

"S-Sammy...please, kill me." Talus pleaded.