~ Nightmare Guild ~

Chapter Eighteen: Fogg and Passepartout

After Guildmaster C's morning announcement, they all went to the mess hall for morning briefing. Today, they were going to search the kitchen and mess hall for clues.

Luckily, yesterday's good spirit prevailed — no one complained or brought up the painful fact that they were still stuck in there despite Tyrogue's important find yesterday.

As usual, Treecko was the leader of the briefing and the search. He assigned each of them to search a part of the mess hall.

No one barely said anything as the day wore on. It was all searching and searching and more searching.

And it wore on and on and on.

And on.

And no one found anything.

Lombre sighed and stretched. She had been searching the low cupboards in the kitchen, which apparently contained nothing but cooking utensils. Then, she happened to glance at the clock and gasped.

"¡Dios mio!" she exclaimed. "It's already half past one. I'd better start getting lunch ready."

"Did someone say lunch?" Staraptor's head protruded from the doorway.

Lombre rolled her eyes. "Sí. Be a good Pokémon and tell the others, won't you, Staraptor?"

"Right on! I'll do anything for food. I'm fricking starving, for Arceus' sake."

Breloom and Tyrogue were in the mess hall. Although they hadn't found anything, they seemed reluctant to stop looking. Staraptor quickly released them from their jobs.

Then, Staraptor frowned.

"Uhh, have you seen Treecko and Roselio?"

"Aren't they in the kitchen?" Tyrogue asked, flopping tiredly onto a chair.

"No, Lombre's the only one in there."

Breloom and Tyrogue only shook their heads.

Staraptor groaned. Great! They were keeping him away from his lunch. He quickly flew out of the mess hall to look for them.

»̶✽«̶

...

Meanwhile, Treecko stepped into the dimly-lit library. He was breathless.

No wonder; he had been running.

The silence in the mess hall as they all searched had allowed him the time and opportunity to ruminate on the thoughts he had pushed to the back of his mind since Tyrogue found the reports. Those useless thoughts had disentangled themselves and managed to force themselves right into the spotlight; right between his eyes.

Treecko knew overthinking killed, but he couldn't help it.

He had escaped into the library. He had to retrieve the last and only thing he had left of her. The one he had chucked at the trash can and missed.

In the library, silence pressed on from every side, and the painful, monotonous scenes that had been playing since he was still searching in the mess hall were still mocking him. He felt as if he was tied to a chair in front of a movie he seriously didn't want to watch.

In the first scene, Magnemite was staring at her as if she was some kind of technology goddess.

His voice echoed. Wow, you can make robots?!

A blush of the palest pink crept onto her cheeks, as if the ice that she was made of was the inside of a large, perfect shell tinged with pink.

Yes, and chemical stuff and whatnot, usually. She had brushed the compliment off modestly.

Yet Magnemite's response was to look up at her with a shiny, awestruck eye.

Yes, the mess hall was the very place where they had pinned their hopes on Froslass.

The scene then switched to show a pair of angry eyes like those of a beast out of control. There was a bloodcurdling scream, a frosty crackle and a whoosh, and a crash, and suddenly Breloom and Lombre were on the floor and she had added a hideous ice sculpture to the room.

The mess hall was the very place they had pinned their hoped on Froslass, but it was also the very place where she had fallen from grace.

These were the thoughts that had suddenly attacked him in the mess hall, so he had run.

He hurried to the trash can, expecting to see the paper still on the floor near it, but was astonished to see that it wasn't there.

Why isn't it still here? he wondered. Maybe someone accidentally kicked it when we were searching the library yesterday, he thought, so he got down on his hands and knees and carefully searched the whole library floor.

It was still nowhere to be seen.

When Treecko got up, his mind was whirling. Did someone pick it up? If so, who?

I have to have that paper, he thought severely. He didn't notice, but his heart was pounding. I have to find that paper. It's the last thing she left behind for us. It's the only thing left of her.

Suddenly, a voice rang out in the gloom.

"Looking for this?"

Treecko whirled and saw Roselio standing at the doorway. He was holding up a piece of paper that looked as if it had been crumpled up but then smoothed out. The words WE STAND FOREVER in capital letters were clearly written on it. In the dim light, his eyes gleamed.

"Yes." Treecko's heart stopped pounding and his cool act came back. He was relieved it had been found, although he wondered what Roselio had done with it. "Did you pick it up?"

"Yeah, I picked it up yesterday. Here you go, Treecko." Roselio grinned and went over to him, Froslass' letter dangling at the end of one of his vines.

"...Thanks." Treecko took the letter from him. For a moment, he looked down at it tenderly, smoothing out the wrinkles. He didn't understand why he had crumpled it up and meant to throw it away.

I'm sorry, Froslass, he thought. I wanted to return into that cold-hearted wood gecko who first came to this guild, but I think I can't. I asked to search the library instead of the lab and while searching the mess hall this morning, I finally broke down. I miss you too much, yet this piece of paper is the only thing left of you. I wish you were still here.

That was when Roselio's cheerful voice interrupted him.

"Aren't you gonna ask me why I picked it up, Treecko?"

The wood gecko looked up. Actually, he had been meaning to ask Roselio that.

"Fine, why did you pick it up?"

The Thorn Pokémon grinned. "That's more like you," he said. "Well, I picked it up because I wanted to check something."

Teeecko paused. This wasn't the answer he'd expected. He stared at the younger Pokémon with a frown.

"Check something? What do you mean?"

"Get ready, this next bit of news is going to shock you." Roselio's eyes suddenly widened...

"There's something wrong with Froslass' letter."

"What?" It was so quick and astonishing that Treecko's brain, unusually, had to process it for a moment. He squinted at the Roselia.

"What do you mean, there's something wrong with her letter? This is her handwriting for sure, and this is her signature."

"Ah, oui." Roselio nodded seriously. "You're right, Froslass really did write and sign that letter. What I'm talking about is the content."

"The content? What's wrong with the-"

"HA! There you are!"

He was, unfortunately, interrupted by Staraptor. The annoyed Flying-type was standing at the doorway with his wings folded in front of him.

"So, you two haven't only been keeping me from my lunch, but also shirking work! Instead of searching the mess hall and the kitchen, you two are holed up in the library!"

He stormed in and grabbed Roselio's blue rose, the one that wasn't in a sling, and began to cart him outside. "Come on, it's fricking time for lunch, for Arceus' sake...!" His complaints could still be heard from inside the library.

Before going out, however, the Roselia turned and called to Treecko, "I'll tell you about it later."

Treecko was finally left in the library alone.

He slowly looked down and at Froslass' letter, but the letters written in her elegant, loopy handwriting seemed to swim before his eyes. They seemed to move and rearrange themselves as if they didn't want him to learn their secret. The secret Roselio had discovered.

The content? he thought. What could be wrong with the content of Froslass' letter?

After staring at it for a few more moments, Treecko finally folded it up and decided to go to the mess hall. Staraptor wasn't going to be happy if he didn't get a move on.

But one thing's for sure, he thought.

After lunch, Roselio's got some explaining to do.

»̶✽«̶

At lunch, everyone reported that they hadn't found anything at all in the mess hall and kitchen. Tyrogue suggested that they rest after eating. Although they had been hopeful and cooperative the recent days, he still believed that their moods were volatile.

It was just as well for Treecko. After lunch, he simply tapped Roselio's good arm and murmured, "Follow me."

They ended up in the library again. Treecko closed the door, turned, and gestured at one of the chairs.

"Please, sit down."

Roselio shot him an amused look but did sit down.

Treecko himself sat down on another chair. He took a deep breath.

"Please tell me what is wrong about Froslass' letter."

Roselio was silent for a moment. And then-

"Froslass didn't kill Cleffy."

Treecko, who had been leaning forward in anticipation, fell back in his chair.

Oh. So that's what it is.

He sighed and said patiently, "Roselio, we all know that can't be the case. Cleffy isn't here anymore; we-"

"No, that's not what I meant." The Thorn Pokémon was frowning. "Oui, Cleffy's dead for sure, no doubt about that."

Suddenly he leaned forward, his eyes wide.

"It's just that Froslass wasn't the one who killed her."

This time, Treecko froze.

"What? But Froslass said so in her letter. She confessed."

"Did she really?"

Roselio shut up when he saw that the wood gecko was squinting at him with doubtful, narrowed eyes. He quickly decided to get to the point.

"It's just that Froslass couldn't have killed her, Treecko. Here, look at this paragraph."

He pointed at a particular one.

"Froslass wrote that she overheard Cleffy say that she was going to remain in her room for most of the time that day, when Froslass obviously couldn't have."

Treecko dragged his eyes away from the letter to squint at him again. "And how can you say that?"

"Well, the only time Cleffy mentioned staying in her room was when she was talking to me in front of the mess hall. Exactly at that time, Froslass was doing experiments in the lab, so she couldn't have overheard Cleffy say that. I'm telling you that she had an alibi, Treecko. I'll bet you one of my roses that Staraptor can guarantee that she's been in the lab all along, because she was there with him."

When he looked at the wood gecko, his doubtful expression had disappeared, replaced by that of surprise.

"So you're saying that you and Cleffy were alone when she said that?"

"No, I'm not." Roselio shook his head. "I can't say for sure that we were alone. Maybe someone really did overhear our conversation, that someone being who murdered Cleffy in the end. I'm only saying that it couldn't have been Froslass, that's all."

For a few moments, everything was silent. Treecko was trying to find words to say. He couldn't believe that Roselio had come up with ideas like this. He didn't expect this at all.

In the end, he said, "Well, you're quite... observant, Roselio. This is certainly an interesting idea you've brought up. I'm impressed. But, of course, I still need to ask Staraptor whether he really can guarantee that Froslass was there all the time."

Roselio grinned. "Believe me, I won't lie. Cross my heart and hope to die."

He paused. "Oh, that rhymed."

By this time, Treecko had had another train of thoughts. His beady yellow eyes had a faraway look in them.

Roselio frowned. "OK, now what are you thinking?"

"If what you said is true..." Treecko's eyes suddenly snapped to lock with his own. "That means Froslass made the confession about Cleffy's murder up."

Roselio thought for a moment, then nodded. "Oui, et...?"

"Well," Treecko began nonchalantly, "if she made that part up, who's to say that she didn't make the other parts up, too?"

Roselio's eyes nearly popped. "What?! Are you saying that she made everything up?"

"I can't be sure," Treecko quickly said before Roselio could get too excited. "That needs more investigating."

"But why?!" Roselio burst out. "If she was innocent, why did she confess to all those murders?"

Treecko shrugged, but he was lying. He actually had an idea why.

You did it for the peace, didn't you, Froslass? Everyone suspected you. But instead of trying to clear your name, you decided to pile all the blame on yourself and take the quick exit, taking all those blame and doubt away with you, so we would be left with nothing but peace. You made this confession letter, which may not be entirely true, and killed yourself to save us.

Unbeknownst to Roselio, Treecko was beginning to crumple up the paper in his hand again.

I understand now, but if only I had understood sooner — I may have been in time to save you.

"I need to investigate this letter further," he growled in determination. "I need to find out which parts of this are made up and which ones are true. Froslass may be more innocent than I thought."

Noticing that Treecko had been saying nothing but "I", Roselio took it that Treecko didn't need his help anymore. He got up and started to walk to the door. "Well then. Bon courage et bonne chance."

"Wait."

Roselio lifted his blue rose from the doorknob and turned. "What?"

"I... can't do this alone," Treecko said quietly, as if he was trying hard just to squeeze the words out. "I know I need help. I need observant people who notice details other people don't. Will you... help me... Roselio?"

The Thorn Pokémon tried to keep a straight face, but he was never any good at hiding emotions. He grinned. "Ah, sure I'll help you!"

He hurried back to his chair and sat down. "C'est bon! Now we're like Sherlock Holmes and Watson. You're Sherlock Holmes, of course, cuz you're the real deal detective. Or... maybe we're like Phileas Fogg and Passepartout. Yeah, that sounds better because Fogg's an emotionless guy who's as punctual as a radio clock and Passepartout's a really cool French guy... Yeah, sounds about right."

Treecko was now back to squinting at him, progressively wondering if he'd done the right thing in asking for his help.

"Roselio, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Ah, non? You don't read classics, do you? Too bad."

Treecko thought, What a loudmouth. I hope he actually does something useful in the investigation and doesn't only chatter my tail off.

However, the next moment, his determination came back.

But two brains are better than one, right, Froslass? Two brains are better than one and four eyes are better than two. We're going to see just what kind of secrets you've put into this intriguing letter of yours. We're going to find out what really happened.

Froslass Yukimenoko, dead or alive, you've never ceased to blow my mind.

»̶✽«̶

It was in the library where Treecko wrote that line again:

One: The Case of Riolu Rollingkick.

OK. Let's begin the investigation, shall we, Watson? Or Passepartout or whoever it was Roselio mentioned.

"According to Froslass, she woke up really early in the morning and saw that Riolu's room was unlocked," Treecko began. "Then she'd gone into the mess hall for a knife and killed him."

"That's kinda difficult." Roselio frowned. "I didn't wake up early that morning, so I can't really say anything on that."

At first, Treecko was silent. However, he suddenly spoke up.

"She didn't kill him."

Roselio tilted his head with a questioning look.

"I..." Treecko sighed. "OK, I also woke up earlier without telling anyone, perhaps some half an hour before the morning announcement at eight. To do some... investigating... and some reading in the library. My room is in the left wing, near Froslass', and I saw her come out of the room when I was walking to the library. She went straight to the mess hall, to make some tea, she said. She didn't do anything at all before going to the mess hall.

"Besides, Snivy also woke up early that day," Treecko continued. "I had a chat with her before she died. She said that she saw Froslass make chai tea in the mess hall. So it's highly unlikely that Froslass did anything before going into the mess hall."

Roselio thought for a while and finally nodded. "All right. So it's a green light, then."

OK, so there's a good chance that Froslass made the confession about Riolu's case up. Great. You're cleared in one case, Froslass.

Now, how about this, Watson?

Two: The Case of Cleffy Clefairy.

"Like I said earlier, Froslass couldn't have killed Cleffy because she was in the lab with Staraptor all the time," Roselio said. "Go on, ask him if you don't believe me."

Treecko did, and Staraptor said the exact thing. He and Froslass had always been in the lab before Roselio joined them a few moments later.

"After a while, Machop and Magnemite also joined us," he remembered. "But the point is, yeah, we were in the library all the time."

Roselio grinned when Treecko went back into the library and told him that he was right.

Well, Passepartout, you're quite good at this. Another case in which Froslass' name can be called cleared. Moving on.

Three: The Cases of Machop Wanriky and Magnemite Coil.

"This is what she wrote in her letter." Treecko pointed out the relevant paragraph.

I simply walked ahead of them and planted the time bombs in the training gym. Then I went away from that area so that I would be far from the crime scene by the time it happened.

However, I had not counted on one thing: Tepig. It turned out that he had seen them walk past and decided to tag along. He was behind them and had not entered the gym when the bomb exploded. At least he had not seen anything that could directly incriminate me as the culprit.

Roselio thought about it for a moment. Then he said breezily, "Well, that's a contradiction right there."

"What contradiction?" Treecko reread the paragraph, squinting.

"Remember the layout of the rooms in the guild?"

"Yeah." Treecko remembered the first day they came to the guild and nodded.

"There are two wings that stretch out from the main entrance hall, the left one and the right one. The training gym is at the end of the right wing. That means, there is only one way to go to and from the training gym — the right wing itself."

Treecko caught on. "That means, to plant the bombs, Froslass had to go through the right wing. And to 'get far from the crime scene' after doing so, she'd had to go through the same way again..."

"Which means, Machop, Magnemite, and Tepig should have seen her leave because they were walking down the same path as her, only in the opposite direction, to go to the training gym. They should have crossed paths in the right wing at some point," Roselio finished. "Well, oui, they probably didn't think much of it at that time, but it's hard to believe that Tepig didn't mention anything about meeting Froslass after Machop and Magnemite had been killed."

"It's a shame we can't ask Tepig about this like how we asked Staraptor," Treecko said, "but Froslass' confession for this case doesn't seem too convincing, either."

That was kind of confusing, but I do understand what he meant. He meant, if Froslass really had gone to the training gym to plant the bombs, she would have crossed paths with Machop, Magnemite, and Tepig because there's only one way to and from the gym. That's another one down.

Four: The Case of Tepig Pokabu.

"Froslass said that Tepig had invited her to tea in the mess hall before Nighttime," Treecko began. "It turned out that he was waiting with a frying pan in the kitchen. He tried to hit her, but she dodged and froze one of his legs. While Tepig was immobilized, Froslass hit him again and again on the head."

"That's weird," said Roselio shortly.

Treecko looked up and shot him a meaningful look. "I know what you're thinking and I'm thinking the same thing. Froslass completely failed to mention a crucial detail..."

"The SORPV in blood."

Treecko nodded. "That's right. Froslass said that 'once she was finished, she simply stood up and wiped the brain matter off her'. She didn't mention Tepig writing anything on the floor at all."

"Veeeery secretive and suspicious," Roselio singsonged, after which Treecko looked up and frowned at him.

Five: The Cases of Oshawott Mijumaru and Snivy Tsutarja.

"Froslass' confession for the next murders is like this." Treecko pointed at a specific paragraph.

Although Oshawott was found first, Snivy was actually already dead before then. By killing Oshawott with a bomb, everyone would surely come running to that area. So while everyone was gawking at Oshawott's room, I was actually in Snivy's room. After that, I would arrive late at the scene of the crime and act really surprised.

Roselio frowned as he read it. Then he looked up to the ceiling, deep in thought. Then it seemed as if he got an idea as his eyes snapped back to meet Treecko's.

"Excusez-moi," he said, and without waiting for a reply, he got up and went out of the room, leaving Treecko staring.

He went back in a few minutes later. He sat back down.

"Thought so."

"What?" Treecko stared in astonishment. Roselio was surprising him more and more.

"Oshawott's room is in the left wing, whereas Snivy's room is in the right wing. According to the letter, Froslass' plan was to bomb Oshawott's room to lure everyone into the left wing while she was in the right wing killing Snivy in her room."

"Is there anything wrong with that?"

"Well, where did you meet her for the first time that day, Treecko?"

"Why, in her room," Treecko remembered. "Yes, I was frantic because it was already past nine and she hadn't come out yet."

"That's the problem," Roselio said, to Treecko's puzzlement. "Froslass' room is also in the left wing, near Oshawott's room. When the bomb exploded, we automatically crowded in front of Oshawott's room, which means we were also near Froslass' room."

Treecko thought for a moment. "If Froslass was in Snivy's room in the right wing when the bomb exploded but was later seen in her room in the left wing after the bomb exploded, that means she should have walked from the right wing into the left wing to go to her room. That can't have been possible because we were there outside Oshawott's room all the while. We would have totally seen her if she had walked past us."

"That means Froslass couldn't have been in Snivy's room when the bomb exploded," Roselio concluded. "She couldn't have left her room that morning. Which means there's no way she could have killed neither Snivy nor Oshawott."

Treecko leaned back in his chair.

"Good Arceus," he said. "We found flaws in all of Froslass' confessions. Now it's hard to think that she was the murderer because she didn't seem to even know that much about the murders at all!"

"Maybe she really wasn't the murderer," Roselio said. "Maybe someone else murdered all of them. Though I still don't know why she'd confess to all those murders that weren't her doing in the first place..."

Treecko, of course, already had a suspicion, but he wasn't about to tell it to Roselio because he thought it was more sentimental than anything else.

The only thing he said was, "That means we have an even harder job to do: find out who really killed those Pokémon." His voice was filled with determination.

"Now that's really gonna need a 'bon courage et bonne chance'," Roselio sighed.

Treecko didn't reply because he already had thoughts of his own.

See, I was right. You didn't do anything wrong, did you? You died even though you were innocent, didn't you?

Well, don't worry. Roselio and I are a team now. Like Holmes and Watson. Like Fogg and Passepartout, whoever they are. We're going to find out who the real murderer is. We'll prove your innocence. That has to mean something although you're not here anymore, right?

Then, nonchalantly, Treecko said to Roselio, "Those were some pretty nice deductions there, Roselio. Again, I'm impressed. Was it in the lunch you ate?"

Roselio paused, then grinned. "Lunch, maybe not... But perhaps it was in the popcorn."

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