Chapter 10 (Nasty Plot Backfires)
(Froakie's POV)
As expected, Absol reappeared on the mountain. The scene was the exact same as before. But of course, this was a dream.
"Tell me Absol, who is the murderer? Surely you can ask Croagunk. He died 2 days ago. Didn't you see him?"
"Hmm… as much as I would like to ask him, you must understand that dead Pokemon take time to travel to the Land of the Dead. Even so, it is quite hard to locate the exact Croagunk that died in this event. There could be many dead Croagunks in there anyway. I am unable to tell which Croagunk was the one that got killed in this game." Absol replied.
"Oh, I just found out, Natu has just died. She is on the way to join Croagunk. If you hurry now, you might catch the murderer." Absol said nonchalantly.
"WHAT?" I squealed. I was jolted from my slumber. I dashed out of the room, only to see a Zoroark image running away. Determined not to let the murderer run away, I sprinted after the Zoroark.
I put on a burst of speed. "Stop running!" I commanded. I noticed the murderer had a strange shuffle in his steps. Was it Drilbur? Although I have never took notice of Drilbur's movements, but this shuffling of feet sounded like him. After all, for every step I took, the gap between me and the murderer was shrinking. I was about to catch him!
Strangely, once the Zoroark noticed that I was catching up, he increased his pace. The shuffling of feet seemed to have reduced. I was surprised. Was this Drilbur? Or were my eyes playing tricks on me? The gap between us was beginning to widen. I started to wonder if it was a Drilbur trying to sprint, or someone else trying to masquerade as Drilbur.
The murderer started to dash frantically. In the darkness, I simply could not run too fast. I was afraid that I would knock into a wall, giving the murderer a chance to kill me. This was partly because I had once injured my head a few years ago. I was playing tag with a Ponyta when my head went smack into a tree. This gave me a slight phobia of running too quickly. Nevertheless, the murderer was a tad too daring. He just kept dashing round corners, and eventually reached a junction. To the left would be the park that we were at during the first day of the party, before the Fantasy Games. To the right was the dining room, where we would have our meals. I did not see which way he went.
When I finally reached the junction, I stood for a moment, before heading to the park. I suspected that the murderer would try to hide in the trees. Anyway, I doubt there was any other way out of the park, so there was no need for me to make haste. I treaded carefully, being extremely careful not to fall into an ambush.
I climbed up the trees, and called : "Come out you coward!" I waited for any signs of movement. Apparently there was none. I decided to wait for ten minutes, eyes peeled for any signs of movement.
After 10 minutes, I realised that the murderer had probably ran the other way towards the dining room. Feeling dejected, I headed back to my room.
(Slowpoke's POV)
"Knock Knock." "Wake up! Natu is dead!" a frantic voice called.
I woke up. Huh? Who was calling me? I thought I heard some noises.
"Wake up! Natu is dead!" the voice repeated. Oh, that was Treecko. Wait what? Natu is dead?
I rushed out of my room and asked: "What is going on?"
Treecko responded: "I was awoken by someone shouting 'Stop running'. I think it sounded like Froakie. Then when I got out, as I walked a few steps, I tripped over Natu's dead body. She was killed!"
"Wait... if you see Froakie chasing the murderer, why didn't you help out? Don't you run fast too?" I asked
"I am not even sure if it was Froakie. But I was already far away from the one who was trying to catch the murderer. So in that case, the distance between me and the murderer would be too far. Even if I help, what can I do? This place is so big. Nevertheless, I have a plan to catch the murderer." Treecko replied.
"Huh? What idea do you have?" I was sceptical about Treecko.
"Do you agree with me that the murderer would not be in his or her room right now?" Treecko asked.
"Er... yes?"
"Do you agree that the innocents should be sleeping right now?"
"Yes.. so?"
"Therefore, since someone is already chasing the murderer, the murderer should be hiding somewhere far away from here. So I plan to wake everyone up and gather them here. Then, I would do a headcount, and find out who is absent. The absent one would be the murderer, as he would not know that he or she is supposed to gather together with the here there are only two pathways for the murderer to run to, towards the park or the dining room. So whoever would walk from that direction is a possible suspect."
" But I thought you said that someone was chasing the murderer? Then how would you know which one of the two Pokemon is the one we are supposed to catch?" I asked.
"Well, it is unlikely that the murderer would return to his room anytime soon, so it is likely the Pokemon that would come back later would be the murderer. " Treecko responded.
"That sounds logical." I commented. Treecko and I then went in two different directions, waking the Pokemon up.
"Wake up Mareep!" I called.
"Wake up Caterpie!" I called.
From the distance, I could hear Treecko waking others up. "Wake up Chimchar!" she called.
As I finished waking several Pokemon, I saw Froakie walk near me. What was he doing here? "Why are you already awake?" I asked. I was suspicious. Why would someone even go to the park or the dining room at the middle of the night? There definitely would not be any food available. Was he the murderer?
"I was chasing the Zoroark illusion. But he got away. I thought the murderer would go to the park but I think he has escaped into the dining room. I am not sure where he is now."
I found his answer strange. If the murderer did go to the dining room, why on earth did Froakie take so long to return? Something is not right.
I told Froakie about Treecko's plan to catch the murderer. Froakie just nodded his head. He seemed exhausted from running. Treecko had just finished waking everyone else up. She walked towards us, and said: "Oh you have woken up pretty early Froakie."
"Oh no, he was already awake." I replied.
"The murderer got away from my clutches. Luckily, with your plan of yours, it seems like we can finally go home." Froakie wheezed, still tired from his chase.
Before long, the other Pokemon had gathered around Natu's dead body. Mareep was bleating with misery.
"Okay, let's do a headcount. We shall see who is absent." Treecko declared. "Mareep, Slowpoke, Growlithe, Caterpie…" and she counted everyone but Drilbur. "Where is the mole?" Growlithe growled.
"Maybe he isn't in his room. He probably needed to hide somewhere to remove his Zoroark disguise." Froakie asserted. "Yeah that sounds logical. But how do you know he was using his Zoroark cloak?" Kecleon asked curiously.
Froakie told his tale about the chase of the murderer. He also told the Pokemon about the murderer's shuffling of feet. "I am very sure that Drilbur is the murderer. Look, the murderer shuffles his feet, so does Drilbur. Furthermore, why isn't Drilbur here? Treecko and Slowpoke have already woken everyone up. The only conclusion is that he is not in his room, and is probably hiding somewhere." Froakie declared.
The Pokemon nodded in agreement. "But maybe he is in a deep sleep." Treecko remarked.
"I think that is too much of a coincidence." Growlithe countered. "Maybe we should check on him now."
We headed to Drilbur's room, which was coincidentally very near the junction between the park and the dining room. But as we headed to his room, we saw Drilbur walking towards us. Strangely enough, I was unsure if he had came out of his room or he had arrived from somewhere else. I only saw Drilbur walking towards us.
(Drilbur's POV)
I heard some footsteps walking towards my room. Argh, my sleep was disturbed. I decided to take a short walk around this corridor. I walked out of my room, locked the door quickly and walked westwards. From afar, I noticed that everyone was heading towards me. I wondered what they wanted to do with me. I hastened my footsteps, and walked towards them. Strangely, when I walked closer, I noticed that the expressions of the Pokemon looked rather peculiar. It was not the typical expression that I used to see.
I saw Growlithe glaring at me.
"Why weren't you with us Drilbur?" Growlithe questioned.
"What? Why am I supposed to be here? What happened?" I replied.
"Didn't you hear Slowpoke waking us up?" Mareep asked. "I thought it was rather loud."
(Slowpoke's POV)
The corridor was filled with two rows of rooms, so I took the first row while Treecko took the second row. Actually, Drilbur's room was in the second row, so maybe Treecko wasn't loud enough. But if everyone else in the row could hear it, I doubt the problem was with Drilbur's hearing. Moles are supposed to have sharp hearing.
(Drilbur's POV)
"What are you talking about? I didn't even hear you." I rebutted
"Walk five steps." Froakie commanded
What the heck? Why did they want me to walk? One, two, three, four, *shuffle*, five.
"I knew it! That was the shuffling sound I heard. When I was chasing the murderer, he walked with an occasional shuffle in his steps. That's why he wanted Natu to be the sentry. He could use the chance to get rid of the weak Natu! Notice he isn't even in his room, or else he would have woken up when Slowpoke or Treecko called him. It all fits into place!" Froakie shouted. Without further thought, he launched a Bubblebeam in my direction.
I evaded the stream of bubbles, but with much difficulty. Froakie fired a series of Water Shurikens. This time, I could not dodge it and was hit by the swarm of ninja stars. I tried to flee by using Rapid Spin. I spun away, but Froakie was determined not to let me escape. Froakie leaped upwards with a Bounce attack, before attempting to crash into me. But I seized the chance to defend myself. I quickly used Hone Claws, sharpening my large claws before using a powerful Slash attack. Froakie was caught off guard and was sent flying through the air, landing with a loud thud.
"It is not me!" I wailed. "I did not even hear anything. I was asleep!"
"Does anyone else notice that the slash mark on Natu and Croagunk looks very similar to Drilbur's claws?" Chimchar pointed out.
That did the trick. The usually calm and composed Mienfoo became convinced that I was the murderer. With a savage battle cry, it soared in the air and unleashed a strong Jump Kick. I was thrown backwards, only to be soaked in another stream of Bubblebeams. I could not take the damage any further. I slumped to the ground and closed my eyes. My plan to make Natu bait had backfired. Froakie must have believed that I wanted to kill Natu. Why wasn't the murderer caught? And why didn't I wake up when Slowpoke supposedly called me to? Why...
(Narrator)
"Yes! The murderer is finally dead! Let's celebrate!" Froakie yelled in delight.
"With a sumptuous breakfast!" Mewtwo laughed. "The murderer is still alive! Hahaha!"
"What?" Froakie was aghast. His face was ashen, knowing that he had just killed an innocent.
"It sure fits into place. You are a half-witted frog." Growlithe sneered.
For once, the Pokemon were in agreement with Growlithe. Many were muttering about how rash Froakie and Mienfoo were. Even Axew did not blame Treecko like she usually did. But ironically, no one noticed that they themselves did not bother to stop Froakie. They let him attack Drilbur thinking that his reasoning was valid, without even checking for any loopholes, which apparently existed, either in his reasoning, or in Treecko's plan.
But the question is: What was the loophole?
Author's note: Author's note: Please give me some tips to improve my writing. Even if you find this really terrible, at least tell me why it is bad. I hope I have been doing a good job. As I am very busy with schoolwork,(like REALLY busy) please understand if I take a long time to update. Nevertheless, if you were to comment "update" here, I would try to update the story asap. Thank you so much!
PS: Thank you Grammar Nazi for reminding me to use Slowpoke instead of Slowking. That was a really bad error of me. :)