GALANT'S POV

I had now realized why Sam chose to cut my communication with them. Even though the creature could see me, it only acted hostile upon hearing me speak. Perhaps there's something about this Mingle that makes it dislike noise?

Quickly whipping myself back into action, my body lunged forward to leap away from the creature's attack. I could barely see, and yet, I still managed to trudge through the furniture and track some distance from the amalgamation. Before turning the corner I couldn't help but look back and analyze it.

Its body resembled one of a large Houndoom, except it seemed somewhat transparent. Inside the visible body seemed to be a glowing liquid wax vibrating and reacting to the sound around it. I will say, as awful as this creature is to look at, it's the most cohesive creation Sam has ever made.

Nonetheless, I wasn't going to stick around and find out what else it could do.

After arriving near the kitchen entrance, the little speaker on my shoulder chirped with a calm voice on the other end.

"Are you alright?" Presumably Sammy's voice could be heard through the vest.

"Yeah, I should've expected something new." I let out a small exhale in preparation.

"There are a few new things we want you to look for—mainly things we forgot to check."

"Okay, where do I start?"

"Well, you're at the right place. Start by investigating the speaker to prove Sherwood's statement correct."

"Mhm..." Even though they could only see in front of me, I nodded in affirmation.

The microphone in the kitchen that Luster had used to announce if dinner was ready had a long wire that was attached to a large speaker in the hall. It didn't take me very long to tear the front sheet off and look inside.

Just as the Sceptile mentioned, the speaker itself was fine but there was a small circuit fried near the bottom.

"Yeah, it's right here." I leaned towards my shoulder in an attempt to find the vest's microphone once again.

"Good. Now, can you try to make your way into the kitchen?" Sammy requested.

"Sure."

Aside from the distant howling of the creature in the living room, the walk there was very safe. The Mingle had distracted itself by accidentally bumping into random furniture in the other rooms.

The kitchen was the same as where we had left it. Everything seemed a little more rugged, though. Chairs were lazily thrown around and cabinets were haphazardly swung open in the search for evidence.

"Grace has an intuition that we did not thoroughly check the walk-in pantry."

"Right, do you remember who checked this last time?" I questioned before gently pulling the pantry door open.

"No, not really. We were all too busy."

The inside was a lot bigger than expected. How did Luster even navigate this area? I'm wondering what I'm even looking for.

"What am I looking for here?" I spoke into the supposed microphone before examining the room deeper.

The pantry was fully stocked with rows of containers and crates containing ingredients. Even though we have a fridge in the kitchen, I could see rows of freezers and refrigerators that most likely stored frozen meals.

"Luster said that he sectioned everyone's diet in the corner of the room. There should be a note written with calorie counts and how the meal should look like." Sammy's voice seemed to distort from an interference in the speaker.

It was hard to find what they were talking about at first; this room felt like a maze from all the shelves and storage units. However, it was a lot faster after noticing a row of boxes with color-coded pins jabbed onto their sides.

"Is it color-coded?"

"Yes! Grace says to check for Vanta's file." Sammy sounded somewhat enthusiastic, hopefully this will get us closer to finding the culprit.

Assuming Vanta's file was the pin colored in black, I rushed over to yank open the box's top and read whatever was written on the paper taped inside.

"Uhh...says here a mixture of curry, sitrus berries, oran berries, and sometimes white rice. Oh, and it says here that he has nanab berries as a snack." The paper was written in Grace's handwriting—it seems as if she's the only quadruped that can write in this mansion.

"Is there anywhere in the kitchen that says he used Energy Powder?"

Energy Power? I didn't know we had medical herbs in this pantry.

At least now knowing what to look for, I scanned around for any greenish power stored around the racks.

"It's strange, Luster states he has never seen any medical herbs for a while." Sammy noted.

"Then why would I find any now?" I questioned as I practically tore through the shelves to find something of the sort. "Someone must be hiding it. Why is this important?"

"Grace says Vanta is allergic to Energy Power, but not in the way you'd think."

Odd...something like that should definitely be regulated. If it's not here then maybe Vanta took precautions and removed it. After a few more moments of searching I had almost given up...but something quickly struck me.

"Luster, how quickly do you wash dishes?" I asked before whirling around and making a dash toward the backup sink in the pantry.

"It's a lot, so I usually do it the day after." He answered with a slightly muffled voice.

"Great. Do you remember what plate you served Vanta with yesterday?"

"There was a white one with black stripes that I gave him a lot, must have been that one."

I quickly realized which one he was talking about after rummaging through the dirty dishes. With no gloves, I suppressed the urge to look away and analyzed the leftover particles on the surface of the plate.

"Green...powder...how come he didn't notice this?" My eyes widened at the sight of the Energy Powder lining the edges of the dish.

"He had curry on this plate, I'm sure it was very well hidden." Sammy audibly sighed.

"So then...who's to blame for this?" I frowned at the thought. If someone placed something Vanta was allergic to in his dish, then they undoubtedly knew about him in the past.

"Doesn't matter, we have to figure out more." Grace's voice mumbled through the static of the speaker—what in the world is causing that interference? "Vanta's allergy to Energy Powder only makes his immune system compromised."

"So that means he was only made susceptible to sickness...hang on..." My body turned to focus once again on the Umbreon's diet. "Nanab berries...does Vanta eat the entire thing?"

"Yes?" Rayne was the one to answer immediately. "Are you implying that..."

"Yes, I'm implying that nanab berries have the slightest amount of toxin in the stems. If your immune system is normal then it's no problem, but if Vanta didn't have an immune system..." I turned to the speaker on my shoulder.

"Then the slightest amount would kill him." Rayne muttered, I could essentially hear the frown on her face.

"So it is a murder." I felt the air exhale from my body at the realization. That means that I'd have to look for traces of a culprit...but how in the world am I meant to do that now?

"We're cutting off the microphone!" Sam's voice chirped through as I heard her voice cut off.

"What do you mean? What's happening?" For some reason, I was desperate to attempt to communicate again. I suppose it was comforting to have them talk me through this situation.

As if I had totally forgotten about the Mingle surrounding the kitchen, I heard a very loud screech rumble through the walls. This one was louder than the previous ones, and it sounded like something had startled the creature.

I felt an odd, tingly feeling in my arms. My head craned down to watch in horror as my bladed hands audibly vibrated from the sounds of screeching. Even after the creature stopped screaming my blades continued with an unbearable ringing.

"What the..." My body froze as I heard the Mingle nearing the pantry door. This thing was gonna be the death of me. Whatever it did, it now had the option to echolocate with the ringing of my blades.

LOKI'S POV

"What's going on?" I quickly narrowed my eyes at the projector displaying Galant's camera.

Everything was going rather smoothly at first; Galant managed to instantly evade the Mingle and discover a lot of important things we were discussing. Figuring out the cause of death didn't get us any closer to the culprit, however. One of the most important things is noticing that the killer had known about Vanta's allergy, and there are only so many people who would identify that.

"The Mingle has activated its trump card!" Sam proudly crossed her arms and pointed towards the screen behind her. "If it cannot find Galant for a prolonged period of time, it will screech loud enough to cause the metallic-like blades of his to sound back!"

"That's...awfully convenient." Luster narrowed his eyes at the manic Braixen on the other side of the room. "You don't see how that's...not a coincidence?"

"You will soon know why I did that!" Sam grinned at the feline and returned to her throne.

When we had returned to watching the screen, Galant had suddenly already made his way out of the kitchen and was making a run for the living room. With how fast he was running on camera, I imagine he was being chased by the Mingle.

Luster was onto something, this new creature felt as if it was specifically made for a Gallade. Now that we had completed most of the information we were worried about, I wondered where Galant was heading.

"Where the hell is he?" Zantai tilted his head at the screen.

It was dark enough to where Sam had to turn off the lights in the room.

"He's at the stairs." Sammy crossed her arms. "I believe he's coming back to the gym."

"What?" I turned to face the younger Braixen. "He never told us what he saw up there...maybe he feels like it's connected?"

From what I could see he was doing decently well...but I had noticed something odd about the angle. Occasionally I could see his blades while he was running, and I noticed a large gash on the side of his arm.

"Did he get attacked while we weren't looking?" I questioned aloud.

"Holy shit, I think he did." Vince leaned forward in worry. "We still can't talk with him, right?"

"Not yet!" Sam giggled.

By now we witnessed Galant go through the same routine of using a form of psychic energy to levitate himself up onto the gymnasium's roof. We assumed the creature couldn't reach him from this height, so after watching him enter the attic I heard a resounding sigh of relief.

"Galant." I leaned into the microphone that had been passed onto me. "Galant, can you hear me? Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah..." Galant audibly panted and was certainly injured. "I made it but I'm really hurt, this b-better be worth it."

"Why are ya up here?" Sherwood asked loud enough for the mic to pick up.

The Gallade didn't move much after hearing this question. The attic was dark, even with the night vision view we had. Though it was spacious, I assumed that Galant was just simply thinking.

"I saw something up here that confused me." He finally started moving after finding a switch. "I couldn't exactly figure it out, but maybe with your guys' help it can be easier."

Galant walked up to a row of boxes with multiple labels. From the sight of the cobwebs and tiny bugs, it seemed as if nobody had ever visited this place in a long time.

After nearing the first box, there was a note written in ink.

The paper stated, "If I forget".

I watched as the Gallade's bladed arms pulled open the top to reveal a bright blue memory gem.

"A blue gem..." Sammy's eyes widened at the sight. "That means it's holding an active memory."

"What?" Half the room unanimously turned to eye the younger Braixen.

Galant didn't hear this, and he instead opened up the second box. Inside were a bunch of chips and technical circuits that I could not recognize.

"This confused me the most. I don't know what this is for." The Gallade muttered as he rustled around in the box.

Laker seemed to be the only one who had a horrified expression.

"What's wrong?" I turned to tilt my head at the weasel.

"Does that not look familiar to you all!?" The Weavile pointed at the projector once again. "We just saw the burnt circuit in the speaker a while ago, that looks like it would fit exactly in there!"

He was right, earlier Galant had shown us what Sherwood found in the speaker, which was a section that played back recordings that were inserted. Whatever recording was previously inserted, it busted a chip inside the speaker and rendered it unplayable.

However, if what Laker said was true, Galant had just found multiple of them in this box.

"Galant, is there some kind of machine in the attic that can play that recording? If we can hear that, we can know exactly who committed the murder." I leaned into the microphone to ask.

"Right, let me try and find one. I can hear the Mingle below me so I have to hurry." He stated with a hint of worry in his voice.

Obviously, if the culprit visited this room he must have tested the recording with something in the attic, otherwise, the plan would have failed. More importantly, he had to have used something to record it in the first place.

Galant didn't take very long to pull off a blanket that did not look as dusty compared to the others and found exactly what we had been looking for. It was quite old, but the machine looked like it could both record and playback the audio chips the Gallade had found.

"Something like this?" He asked before hovering the audio chip in front of the machine's reader.

"Looks like it." Zantai nodded with his eyes now glued to the projector.

Not one of us looked away, the answer seemingly dancing around us every time we were close. This would be by far the most confusing trial we have had.

"O-Okay, I'll try and play it." Galant stammered as he fidgeted with the recording in his bladed hand. "I can hear the Mingle getting closer, though...I'm scared it might hear this."

"Don't worry, my little bladed friend! If you manage to successfully find the culprit then I will return you unscathed!" Sam announced after having already rushed over to the microphone.

With the promise now motivating him, Galant practically jabbed the chip into the player and shut the lid with an audible click. Now all he had to do was...

"Pressing play now...everybody try and listen closely."

"..."

The room was silent, the only thing now audible was the light background noise from Galant's microphone.

Nothing was playing? Was this even the right recording? Do these recordings even have anything? It wouldn't be too far-fetched that this was just simply an unused stache.

I'm not sure how else were going to find the culprit without gues—

"Ahem!" I heard a loud voice resonate.

Then silence...

"T-That wasn't me...the recording has sound..." I heard Galant whisper to us. "I'm gonna be quiet..."

What seemed like the same amount of silence we had waited before, the voice returned once again—this time more audible.

"I'm testing this out to see if it works." I heard...Galant's voice again?

"Galant, I thought you said you wouldn't speak again." Luster leaned over to the microphone to hiss in annoyance.

"Th-That...wasn't...me..." Galant, now with a petrified voice, answered the feline in a completely different tone than we heard earlier.

"I used the memory gem, I remember that, but I am clearly nothing like the person I was about an hour ago." Galant's voice—presumably coming from the recording—was documenting something...

"That means it was Galant who used the memory gem." Rayne instantly called.

"That's right." I huffed in realization. All this time...and why didn't he tell us?

"No..." Grace shuddered lightly. "Why? Why did he lie to us?"

"I'm not too keen on jumping him for it, maybe it's not connected to the murder?" Sammy ran a paw down her arm in worry.

"This Galant person I was before I got my memories back, I can recall it all. He wanted to be this 'leader', someone that people could rely on and talk to. He helped many trials and even guided them to save lives. But that's not the person he actually is." The recording continued, and it felt as if this was a completely different person with Galant's voice.

"What's he on about?" Zantai turned to Sammy.

"Well, I'm sure Galant doesn't remember this—since he chose to forget." The younger Braixen sighed. "I think he left this here so that the Galant we know can return to it."

"Galant. I've left a lot of signs leading up to this attic, and I really hope it's only you hearing this message right now, because..."

"..."

"...because if you're hearing this right now, you'd have already killed Vanta."

...

What?

The room wasn't allowed to process those words before the recording continued to speak.

"I know how you'll react. You'll be depressed and ashamed, but this isn't your true purpose. I remember everything, especially your life before this killing game. Vanta was the only reason you couldn't bring your father back to life. He fired you after finding out what you did in the cave. He spent months looking for you to try and bring justice."

"S-Stop it..." I heard the current Galant mumble and suddenly sob in response to the information he was processing.

"Galant, I want you to win. I want you to win this killing game. I know that Sam has accidentally revived someone before, she can do it again. She can bring your father back, and you can leave this place feeling happy and accomplished. Use the memory gem and we win, Galant."

The voice in the recording took a deep sigh before we heard an audible rustle of papers.

"Well, the recording with my voice should be playing soon. I've timed it to go off right about now. I'll see you around...and if you found this before Galant did...then oh well! It sure as hell isn't gonna be me experiencing the execution."

A loud click signified that the recording had ended, and only now could we hear a present sobbing through the speaker.

"I'm...not sure what to say." Leon was the first to break the silence, his voice slightly croaking with sadness. "Galant..."

"Fuck...fuck!" Luster uncharacteristically roared and slammed a forepaw against his podium in raw emotion.

Galant was still crying on the other end, he too had no words to say. Though, I could hear a very loud banging coming from the speaker.

"Galant...what is that?" I calmly inquired.

"T-The...Mingle..." The Gallade stammered through his hiccups and sobs before turning over to face the attic's hatch. We could see whatever was under it was attempting to bash it open. How the hell did that creature even climb this high?

"We...still need to give a consensus on what happened." Rayne frowned.

"Damn it all! Let the bastard who did this explain it!" Galant cried out and rushed over to the box holding the blue memory gem. "I'm so sorry to everyone, but if you want to know what happened, I'll be going to the source."

"We understand..." I couldn't say much to dissuade him from this choice, so I just simply agreed. "We'll miss you, Galant."

It didn't hit me until now, but I was a mess of tears. I'm a lot better at controlling my voice at least, but I can't stop crying...and neither could everyone else in the room.

"Galant." We heard the Gallade call his name before tumbling over onto his back.

Then, silence.

"W-What now?" Grace sniffled as she watched the projector in horror. The creature was still trying to break into the attic, yet Galant was unconscious on the ground.

"Give it a second." Sammy reassured.

The younger Braixen was proven correct as we watched the Gallade rise from the ground like some kind of zombie and stand to face the hatch.

"Oh, boy. I know what's going on here." Galant muttered lightly and tapped the camera on his chest. "Hello?"

"You're a murderer, you know that!?" Laker exclaimed all the way from his podium.

The "brand new" Galant seemed to have heard this and let out a taunting laugh.

"You would have done the same, Laker. Anyway, I imagine you all need some huge conclusion on how the murder happened. What else is there to know? You all know that I mixed in the powder, fully understanding that he'd die from the lightly toxic berries he was eating. So what? I'm surprised this even counted as a murder." He visibly shrugged before uttering in a smug voice.

"You monster..." I couldn't help but shiver in response at the nonchalant attitude he had.

"Oh, cause you wanna know so bad, I'll feed you a bit of info because it'll probably clear some things up!"

"It goes..."

Case 3 - Vanta

THIRD PERSON

The constant whirring of air bleeding through the windows. A gentle hum from machinery emanating from the ceilings. A light, metallic thump from the vents.

Vanta, contrary to what one would think, was completely keen on his surroundings. Though he felt as if his body was completely paralyzed, he didn't bother to feel fear. Instead, he was almost accepting of this situation, knowing that this was eventually bound to happen.

Another audible thump from the vents, this time one closer to him.

It didn't scare him, however, to the Umbreon, it was like the ending. A collector was coming to take him away from this place. For hope, one would think it could be Arceus, but he never deemed anything in the mansion as good.

He could hear a vent opening be shoved off its hinges and clank against the ground before a silhouette made its appearance in front of him.

"There's Giratina." Vanta growled slowly.

"Do you consider me a devil of some kind?" Galant walked over, his curiosity now piqued.

"Even in this state—" The Umbreon groaned as he felt a cough attack hurl more blood out of his throat. He leaned over to brace himself against the towel and catch the mess. With a metallic taste in his maw, the canine continued. "Even in this state, I could tell it was you who poisoned me."

"I didn't poison you...merely just made you vulnerable to everything." The Gallade crossed his arms. "If you knew, why not run to everyone and cry wolf?"

"There's no cure for what you did. I guess I also didn't want to worry anyone." Vanta shrugged.

"So stoic, aren't you? That's how you've always been."

"I assume you knew me in our past?" The Umbreon side-eyed the bladed 'mon next to him. "Was that your motive for this?"

Out of context, Galant looked like a worried visitor for the bedridden canine...but of course, it was nothing of the sort.

"Yup, it wasn't too good either." He answered.

"How convenient." Vanta groaned and leaned his head back against the pillow with a deep sigh. "You're going to get caught."

"What makes you say that?" Galant raised a brow.

"I know these people. They will find out exactly what you did, no matter how perplexing it may seem. Just like you were so badly wanting to escape the game by murdering me, they will prevent their deaths by finding you out." He grinned.

"Wow, just so moving. Listen, I have a goal, and I'll do whatever it takes to get to it." The Gallade shook his head in annoyance. "You're gonna die, so stop acting like you're making some big sacrifice."

"You are too." The Umbreon chuckled lightly. "Even if I was scared, I wouldn't give you the satisfaction of seeing me that way. So fuck off."

"Sherwood's a heavy sleeper, I could just kill you now." Galant threatened.

"And let them see the blade marks? Sure, instead of getting executed by Sam, have the entire group maul you to death."

"Arceus..." The bladed 'mon scoffed and paced back towards the vent entrance. "Not a productive conversation at all, you don't remember a thing."

"Even if I did," Vanta muttered mid-cough. "I wouldn't tell you."

ZANTAI'S POV

Galant didn't have to tell us any of that, but he did. Of course, we already knew that he had mixed the Energy Powder into his food, but we had no clue that he had time to talk to Vanta before his death.

Everyone also seemed to be just as shocked as I was, their eyes glued to the screen in a combination of shock, horror, and blood-curdling anger.

Before anything else could be said, Sam broke out in spontaneous laughter.

"Oh, Galant, you were such an amazing customer! I almost want to not execute you!" The manic Braixen giggled lightly. "But I'm afraid there will be no extra stage or epic execution..."

Sam quickly clasped her paws together and leaned back against her throne to also watch the screen. "For your execution has always been the Mingle the entire time! I'm sure you all recognized it was specifically tailored to find Galant at all times."

"I-I knew it..." Luster growled lightly.

"It's either he accepts his death or dies trying to run away! Nonetheless, we will stay here until he is dead." Sam crossed her legs together to playfully pat her thigh.

"This is awful, but I can't say this version of Galant doesn't deserve it." Laker muttered under his breath.

"Oh, by no means do I disagree with you!" Galant chuckled and shuffled around with something in a box. "If anything, I could kill this creature and delay the inevitable..."

"Then why not do so?" I leaned over the microphone to ask.

"I already mentioned it in the recording...if I'm going to die, it better not be me!" The Gallade's camera suddenly shifted around to reveal that he had tied himself to a sturdy pipe with a combination of rope and handcuffs.

"What the fuck are you doing!?" I blurted out.

By now, Galant had already taken off the vest and propped the camera in the corner of the room, revealing his whole body. From here we could see that he had already been injured in both his arm and leg. Even worse, he was bounding the rest of his body to the pipe.

"You know, when he comes back, you should tell the old Galant just how stupid he is. I already said I won't be the one experiencing this execution, so I wish you all goodbye!" Galant turned to face the camera with a bright, manic smile.

"I wish to forget!" He yelled.

"What have you done!?" Sammy uncharacteristically exclaimed at the sound.

We all seemed to have forgotten that if you use a memory gem from now on, you may choose to forget the memory.

He got what he wanted, and it seemed to be working fast as the Gallade was now unconscious on the ground.

The Mingle was still attempting to breach through the hatch, but by now had ripped through a good portion of the wooden exterior.

We didn't know what to do. No one had any special comments or suggestions for how to fix the situation. There was nothing else to do other than watch in horror.

"H-Hello? Guys?" The Gallade worriedly called and attempted to pull his way out of the cuffs. "Why am I back? What happened?"

"G-Galant..." Loki gasped lightly and snatched the mic from my podium. "T-The other Galant, the one from that recording...h-he uh...chose to forget again."

"W-What!?" Galant cried out, his lungs wheezing from lack of air. "Please, Arceus...oh god. Get me out of here!"

The Mingle had now torn through the wooden layer, and everyone in the room could see the sharp claws jabbing past the metal.

"Galant, I'm so sorry. We can't do anythin—" Loki was about to continue before the microphone was lifted away from her by a psychic energy.

"No more of that!" Sam grinned. "Let's watch our friend's execution, shall we?"

"Loki? Hello?" The Gallade's head craned to watch as the creature scrambled its way up to the attic. "Help!! Anybody!?"

But nobody could respond. All he could do was wail and cry as his attempts to escape the restraints were in vain.

"I'm so sorry...I'm so sorry I used the gem. I was curious and wanted to learn more. I should have listened." Galant cried out and shuddered as the Mingle neared him.

"I failed you all, I failed. It's my fault..." His voice croaked after the creature bared its fangs.

The Gallade locked eye contact with the Mingle before leaning forward and exposing his neck. "I know you're a monster with a clear mission to kill me...but I only ask this one thing...please make it quick. Please..."

I could see the Mingle hesitate and watch the bladed 'mon carefully. Uncharacteristically, the creature did as instructed and placed his jaw closer to the Gallade's neck.

"Goodbye..."

His final words before we heard an audible crunch. The Mingle had sunk its fangs deep enough to crush the neck, presumably killing Galant instantly.

The room was devastated, but it was the most ethical way—especially for a creature like the Mingle.

Galant was dead, and he had taken the life of Vanta with him.