(AN: Honestly, I'm a bit ashamed.

I REALLY should have gotten this out sooner, but getting used to being back to school and procrastination meant I'm getting this out far later than I would have liked. I'm so sorry for this. But enough excuses, I'm still gonna deliver!

Besides... I wasn't going to leave Charmy and the gang in despair mode while I go on my jolly ol' merry way, no?

Wait, do people say that?

Eh whatever.

Also, thank you all for 8k views!)

(EDIT: I actually edited part of this to remove the tape from the original and replaced it with something else half-way during writing the trial of this chapter. If you're here from that part, make sure to re-read what it actually was before continuing with the trial part! Thanks!)

A spotlight shone on Egg Robo as he sat in his judge's chair. His moustache bounced in place as the robot sat down.

"Man… this is getting to be a very hectic case, isn't it?" he asked. "But if you catch onto the details, the rest will fall into place. Here's a little hint: think back to that knife. Why was it there?"

He stared directly at the viewer. "I'll see you later this chapter, kid. Peace."

"Okay, time to check this thing," I said, starting up the sixth EggPAD and reading the content in it.

"Victim #7, unknown

Due to the explosion, the identity of the victim is currently unknown. What can be deduced from the body however is that, even before the explosion, the unknown victim was already dead. The victim had been stabbed through the chest with a knife, they had a bullet hole in the same area where they had been stabbed and was also hit with a blunt object. There were other wounds on the body, but it seems to be more than 24 hours old."

"Damn, looks like this thing gives me no clues," I said, lowering the PAD. I couldn't help but think back to that body though.

Vector? Where are you? That person really can't be you? If it is, that means someone must have torn off your snout.

…and frankly, I shudder to think about how horrific that sounds.

"No, enough of these daydreams! I'm sick of thinking! I need to search out the truth! I need to return to the garden!" I thought to myself.

Buzzing out of the data center and to the fifth floor, I couldn't help but think back to the roof. Usually, most of these cases tend to have clues on each new floor we have unlocked to us.

"Eh, I'll think about it later," I said, opening the doors to the garden. I had noticed that everyone had returned there and were all investigating different parts of the room. Silver was over by the chao shed, looking through the screen windows, Amy was digging stuff out from the supply shed, Wave was writing something down in her PAD, and Tikal was praying over the body of the blown-up individual.

I decided to check there first.

"Tikal, mind if I check the body?" I asked. The echidna continued to mumble as her eyes remained closed, hands held up to her chest. Guess she was still busy praying.

Shifting my body towards the charred individual, I decided I should first try to find out more information on whether this was Vector or not. The first thing I had noticed was the hand of the person. Earlier, prior to the body blowing up, I noticed that there was some kind of symbol on this person's hand. Somehow, the hand was perfectly fine despite the explosion, and when I lifted the hand, I could tell that the symbol was a tattoo?

"JACKAL SQUAD" was on the black furred hand, complete with a logo depicting a jackal howling with various weapons surrounding it.

Wait a minute…

Furred?

I began to feel the hand even more, and when I did, I noticed black fur shedding from the hand.

"So… it is him," I said. I wrote down my first two clues from the information I gathered: the black fur and the Jackal Squad tattoo.

Moving from the hand, I decided to take a gander at the upper half of the body. Due to the explosion and the fire ensuing from it, I guarantee that the body was charred beyond recognition. Even if I could've removed the mask, it probably wouldn't matter much.

The only thing I could notice was that the top half was wet due to Wave and me putting out the fire, and the bottom half was perfectly dry. That was normal, right? Still, I wrote my analysis of the body as my third clue.

Just as I was about to get up from the floor, I moved my hand onto something hard. I looked at it to see that it was a large piece of something metallic. Lifting it up, all I could notice about it was that it was something red surrounded by a completely rusted metal. I knocked on it a few times, trying to determine what it was.

"Still, it seems useful," I said, writing down the strange fragment as my fourth clue. Dropping the fragment, I looked to see… a knife.

And when I buzzed closer to it and examined it, it wasn't JUST a knife, but the knife that Amy had given me. This was… the same knife the masked individual attacked me with, and the one Vector put back in my drawer after he attacked the masked person.

Yet, when I woke up, the knife was gone.

How could it have vanished while I was asleep? Surely Vector didn't come back into my room, or… no, no, the killer couldn't have returned to my room, could they? How? If they tried to attack me once, why didn't they try to go for it again?

I thought back to what the EggPAD said. He was stabbed with a knife, but it wasn't what killed him, and that there was a bullet hole in the same area where he was stabbed. Now we're getting guns involved too? Was there a place in this zone that even HAD guns?!

This was getting too weird. I wrote down the knife as my fifth clue. I won't lie, I think I've gotten so much better at all this clue finding that I don't think I need Vector's help anymore. This room holds so many clues that I guarantee this class trial won't take longer than four thousand words!

…at least, I hoped.

I decided to start talking to my friends about what they found and see what clues I could gather. Leaving Tikal alone for now, I buzzed on over to where Amy was, where she was throwing stuff out from the supply shed one by one.

"Amy?" I asked, poking my head inside and narrowly avoiding being hit by a bag of mulch. "Amy, did you find anything?"

"Not now, Charmy! I'm busying finding things!" she replied.

"How are you certain you can find things here?"

"It's called…" she lifted a large amount of pots. "…women's intuition!"

"Is that even how it works?"

'I'm not sure but I'm going with it!"

I wasn't sure if Amy really WAS looking for clues or she was pretending to do so only to avoid thinking about the body, but regardless, I left her alone. Maybe there WAS some secret hidden in there, who knows.

Next, after leaving the shed, I had noticed that Tikal had gotten up from the floor and was no longer praying but was now staring at the body. Seeing as how I didn't feel bad for interrupting her now, I buzzed up to her and she quickly turned to face me.

"Oh Charmy… I thought we were done with this foolishness… but… was I foolish enough to think that we were all going to be pacifistic now?" she asked.

"I don't think that's foolish at all," I replied. "It's your main desire to see no more death, period."

"But… how does it explain this body? Even if Infinite the Jackal is our enemy… should I be grieving over him?"

"Look, you're letting this get to your head," I said. "Here, let's think about something else. Like, any clues?"

"Clues? Um… well, do you remember before the body exploding how the body looked like?"

"It's still fresh in my mind, yeah. Why?"

"On my way here, I was reading the EggPAD and it mentioned something about how the victim was dead before the explosion. And yet, there's all this talk about there being a bullet hole and while it hurts my head, it's been making me think about something: if this person was dead before the explosion, how could all the blood be fresh and only on the top part of the body?"

"Top part?"

"Think about it. If someone was killed, in the movies, there should be blood on the floor. And yet… not a single drop of it was anywhere on the floor. AND, it was wet, as if someone stabbed it prior to us arriving to the garden."

She brought up some incredible theories, I wasn't gonna lie. Maybe all the violence has desensitized her into becoming an amazing detective too…

I wrote down the status of the body as my sixth clue as I thought back to what Tikal said. Dead before the explosion, and yet, wet blood only on the top of the body…

And that bullet hole from a gun that we don't even know the whereabouts of? How could he be shot and yet not bleed on the floor?

This was hurting my head, so I knew I had to move onto something else. I decided to gander at the sprinkler system over towards the exit. I remembered what Egg Robo said about the times, how the time for the sprinklers to go off was ALWAYS 7:30 a.m, no earlier or later. If that was the case… if the body was here prior to that time, then the body should have gotten wet. And it means in THAT case, the murder would have had to happen prior to the sprinklers turning on!

I quickly wrote this down as my seventh clue, stopping to realize I had written sprinklers as 'spinkerls' due to how fast I was writing.

"Eh, whatever, I know what I mean," I shrugged.

I looked around to see who I could talk to next, and I decided to see what Silver was looking at through the screen window. Peeking inside, I had noticed all the chao in the mini kindergarten from before, only that the four of them looked frightened and all huddled together as they shook.

"Wait a minute… four?" I said to myself. I hadn't noticed that Silver finally stopped looking through the window until he spoke up.

"You saw it too?" asked the white hedgehog.

"Huh?"

"You saw it too. There's four in here when there used to be five?"

"That's right!"

"What happened to the other one? Did someone finally decide to steal one? Isn't that like, illegal or something?"

"I dunno but last night when I was here, I DEFINITELY noticed that there were five chao. I have no idea where that other one is, and frankly, I'm too afraid to find out!"

He was right, where WAS the final chao? Why would it go missing while this was happening?

And most importantly, who would dare make all these Chao afraid, because make them cry or scared and I SWEAR I will come for your blood.

…ahem.

I wrote down my eighth clue; the Chao kindergartens' Chao.

Finally, I buzzed over to where Wave was, who was just finishing up with whatever she was writing on her PAD.

"Whacha up to?" I asked as I buzzed up to the swallow.

"Writing clues and not asking bothersome questions, like what you're doing right now," she replied. "But enough about that, you have some incredible timing. I need to ask you something very urgent."

"Urgent? When it comes to you, I'm sure urgent and Charmy Bee aren't two words that really overlap per say-"

"Oh shut it and listen. I'm sure if you're not pressed, you can answer me truthfully: tell me; what's your alibi from last night?"

I was dumbfounded. "A-Alibi?!"

"Yes, alibi. Now, are you going to answer me or not?!"

"W-Well, I thought I explained it to you: I was sick all night and stayed in bed. That's why I wasn't responding and well, I assume you knew that by you telling me off to not get you sick. Why are you even asking me?"

"I feel like it's fairly certain to tell that this murder happened last night. Of everyone present in the gym, you and Vector were the only ones that weren't there with us. Care to explain that?"

"I'm more interested in why you seem to think this happened last night, really."

"Simple: after I had found out what happened to Egg Robo, I went throughout the entire zone looking for everyone, including the garden. There was no such body when I looked, so this can only conclude the murder happened AFTER I had arrived at the garden to look for the others. As I said, myself, Amy, Silver, and Tikal were in the gym that night, so the only people we don't have alibis from are you and Vector. I should also mention, as I was busy working on Egg Robo, I made the rule that we can't go alone. We went to the bathroom in pairs, we stayed in the gym all night, and even stayed up all night working. If the victim is really Vector…"

"…then the only one without an alibi is me, right?"

"As we said, we tried to get you multiple times from your room, but you didn't come out. Were you really sick?"

"I was! I'm telling the truth!"

Wave covered one of her ears. "Goodness, no need to yell. Besides, you DO know that's hardly an alibi."

"I mean, what else am I supposed to say? You know I was sick!"

"Just because you were sick doesn't mean you can't commit murder. You seem to be stuck in a hard place, no?"

She's right. I really WAS stuck in a hard place. My question is now… where do I go from here?

As I turned around to leave, I wrote Wave's account as my ninth clue.

Suddenly, Silver ran up to me. I buzzed back a little bit, wanting a bit of personal space.

"Jeez, what happened?" I asked.

"It's 11 o' clock!" he exclaimed.

"…uh… and?"

"Well, think about when we found the body!"

"When we found the body?"

The time?... Now that I thought about it, at 7, Egg Robo's announcement woke me up, then I helped Tikal prepare breakfast with the others about half an hour later, I think. The usual things happened with me discovering what happened to Egg Robo, culminating with Wave telling Amy to find the pickaxe at… what time was it again?

Oh right, it was around…

"…9?" I asked.

"Yeah, we found the body around 9! And then afterwards, we spent around the next two hours trying to find out what happened, getting everything in the data center and all that jazz, so we can say for certain that the body was found at 9!"

I wrote down the time the body was found as my 10th clue as Silver walked off. Wondering where else I should go, I was about to head out when Amy walked up to me holding a white dirty tarp.

"Man, can I just leave to look around?..." I thought to myself.

"Hey, Charmy, do you recognize this?" asked the pink hedgehog.

"I don't think so. Was that always there?"

"That's why I'm asking you. I've never really been in the garden. There's something weird about this though."

Amy flipped the tarp around, revealing… a side of the tarp that was completely clean. Now THAT concerned me. What reason would any one of us have to use a tarp?

I wasn't going to say anything JUST yet, but I wrote down the tarp as my twelfth clue.

As Amy walked off to presumably look for more clues, I thought about just how many clues there were left in the garden. I thought that was everything, but there was still some stuff that needed to be solved. For example, that metallic piece by the body. I needed to go somewhere to confirm that…

And most importantly… where was Vector now? The body is clearly Infinite's, so…

There was only one thing I could do. For me to find out more information on what happened, I had to see if I could get into Vector's room. My only problem was that Wave no doubt still had the key to his room.

So, with all the doubt in my mind, I buzzed up to the swallow, who was still writing some stuff on her PAD.

"Um, Wave?" I asked.

"If you have an alibi, wait until the trial," she replied, not looking up from her PAD.

"No no, it's not about that. You have the key to Vector's room, right? Do you mind if I borrow that?"

The swallow turned to face me as if I was insane. "Of course not! You're the prime suspect. Why would I give it to you?!"

"Well… if you chaperoned me, that would be okay, right?"

She looked at me for a few seconds before sighing. "I suppose."

"Well, will you go?"

"No."

"No?!"

"Find me later and I'll consider it, but don't take that as me saying, 'yes'."

Wave walked off as I groaned. For Gaia's sake, is she always the buzzkill around here?

Actually yes, yes she is.

I buzzed my way to the gym, thinking back to the fragment I found by the body. That metallic red part really made me think back to something in the gym, and when I opened the doors, I saw that the old Egg Robo was still laying dismantled on the ground. I crouched on the ground and moved wires and motherboard pieces around, but not being able to find…

The bomb.

I recalled how Silver had found the bomb inside Egg Robo, the same bomb that each of the Egg Robo robots had. The same bomb that I remember almost blowing up Shadow when we'd first arrived at Green Hills.

And here it was; the bomb was missing, and the fragments were in the garden. I updated my clues on the fragments, connecting them to the bomb.

With that out of the way, I returned to the garden with the hopes that Wave was finally in the mood to come with me to Vector's room. Sure enough, when she saw me return with a smile on my face, she sighed.

"Lemme guess, you're not gonna let this go, are you?" she asked as I shook my head.

"Alright, let's go…"

The swallow led the way as I followed behind. We didn't share any words between us until we finally reached Vector's room.

"You ever been in here?" I asked.

"Of course not. I have no reason to," she replied. Wave pulled out the key from her pocket as she put it into the keyhole, turning it.

"Thanks for this by the way."

Wave didn't respond as we both went inside. She turned on the lights as the I looked around the room. It looked normal enough, nothing out of the ordinary. It was then that I noticed something laying on the table.

"What's this?" I asked myself, picking up a wooden block.

"I wouldn't know. Is it some kind of key?"

"Why would a key look like this?"

"Traditional bath houses use keys that look like that. You never know."

"How would you know that?"

"The Babylon Rogues would go to one in each town we visit for our Grand Prix's. I have experience naturally. But the question begs… what does this open?"

"Can you think of anything that this could open?

"Hm… Wasn't there something on the rood?"

"The roof?"

"Did you happen to notice what were behind the vending machines?"

"Not at all."

Wave sighed. "Goodness… Okay, next to the vending machines were a pair of lockers. I believe this is what they open."

"Why don't they use normal keys?"

"If I'm not mistaken, it's the same style of locker that the dojo has."

"Okay so… why wouldn't this unlock one of the dojo lockers?

"Because of the number on the key," Wave pointed to the "7" on the key. "The dojo doesn't have a locker with a seven on it."

"But now this begs the question: why would Vector have this?"

"I don't know. He's your friend, not mine."

I sure as hell didn't know the answer, but regardless, I wrote down the woodblock key as my thirteenth clue.

"Tell me bee, why are we even here in the first place?"

"I figured we could find a clue if we looked around."

"Could find a clue? As in, you're not even certain we will?! That sounds like a massive waste of time."

"N-No it isn't!"

"You don't even have a sense of direction. Do you or do you not have a leg to stand on?"

Do I?

Wait a minute…

That letter…

"Should something happen to me, open it. Until then, under any circumstance, promise me you won't open it," Vector told me when he gave me that letter.

I instinctively pulled the letter from my coat where I kept it, not wanting to risk Egg Robo or anyone else finding the letter.

"What's that?" Wave asked as I looked up, the swallow staring at me with an odd look to her face.

"Vector gave me this," I replied. "He told me if something happened to him, to open the letter."

"Well, something clearly has happened. Go ahead, open it."

I nodded as I opened the letter. I wasn't quite sure what I was going to expect. More info about Infinite? A set of instructions detailing how to beat the mastermind?

No, what I got was a single sheet of paper with one line on it:

"Under the covers."

"Huh?"

Wave walked over to read over my shoulder. "That's not a very comprehensive guide, is it?" she asked.

"I know that but… that's it?"

"Well, you read the letter. Check under the covers."

I turned to face the bed as I quickly dug under the covers. For a few seconds, all I could feel was the silky texture of the covers. That was until I felt something crumbled near the pillow.

"What's this?"

I pulled out a balled-up piece of paper. Opening it up, I stretched it out so that wrinkles didn't cover the paper. Once I was able to get the sheet looking somewhat normal, I went ahead and read what Vector left me. What it was however….

Wasn't what I expected.

"Green Hills Zone, student registry

Class: #91

Name: Infinite the Jackal"

"Looks like this is Infinite's profile…" I said.

"Profile, you say?" Wave asked.

"This had to have been the other thing that was stolen from Egg Robo. You know, not just the key, but this…" I thought to myself.

"Well? What does it say?"

I continued to read.

"Name: Infinite the Jackal

Sex: M

Title: Ultimate Mercenary

Description: Born as a child of war to two soldiers, Infinite's parents were killed during the Merician Civil War due to a bombing. As Infinite was one a few survivors of the bombing, he was later taking in by the Merician Army and trained to be a child soldier.

After the end of the Civil War when he was in his preteen age, Infinite retreated to the jungles of Adabat and created a mercenary group known as the Jackal Squad. What set apart this group from other armies was that, as the name implies, only jackals made up the team of mercenaries. As their leader, Infinite lead a resistance against the government of Adabat, not doing it for any real cause, but doing it for monetary gain. Thanks to his ultimate talent due to his years of exposure, Infinite was able to negotiate deals with the government to get what he wanted, not before nearly causing an armed conflicted that resulted in the death of four Adabat soldiers.

Two years back, it was stated that Infinite had vanished, and the Jackal Squad had disbanded, but with his arrival to Green Hills, it seems he wishes to turn his life around while still remembering his original skill: Ultimate Mercenary."

I quickly placed the paper on the bed, getting out my PAD and writing the fourteenth clue: Infinite's Profile.

"This profile…" I muttered.

It felt so… surreal.

Everyone here had such normal Ultimate talents. Runner, gardener, mechanic, fisherman… Sure, you had stuff like telekinetic and ninja, but…

The fact that someone was a former child soldier turned mercenary, and that same person was now dead…

What did this mean?

And that name… "Jackal Squad"… it's the same name I saw on the back of Infinite's hand.

"Do you recognize the name?" Wave asked.

"It's on… Infinite's hand," I replied.

"Excuse me?"

"Wave, didn't you look at the body? On the back of its hand there's a tattoo with a jackal and the words, "Jackal Squad" on it. The body in the garden, it's Infinite!"

"I… I see…"

"What do you know about the Jackal Squad? Please Wave, you have to know!"

"I don't know much! Look, all I know about the Jackal Squad is what I've heard through the media. From what I understand, the Jackal Squad started a revolution all about jackals against Adabat, which had a history of discrimination against Jackals due to historical ties. Not much is known about Infinite besides him being the leader of the Squad, and that killing him would not only be beyond impossible, but pretty much suicide. His talent was so strong, it was thought that he was invincible not just on the battlefield, but anywhere."

"If only Mr. Infinite could do the one thing he's good at: appearing when he needs to!" a sudden voice said. I turned to the side to see…

"You," I coldly said when I saw Egg Robo.

"Now now, Charmy! I would be punishing you for being a bad boy and holding that profile…" the robot said. "But I can't punish you or Mr. Vector even if he stole it! There's no rule that says you can't do that! Even if he stole and hid it like a coward. But who I CAN'T forgive is Espio! He thinks he's real clever breaking into my office before he dies as a last-minute revenge act, and I can't even get back at him because he's dead! Maybe I'll drag his corpse out and serve it as a last supper!"

I grew pale in the face. "You wouldn't…"

"Are these rules truly all you care about?" Wave asked. "You seem to eat, breathe, and sleep these rules."

"Because I'm a fair egg, ya dumb bird!" Egg Robo replied. "I have to follow them as strictly as you do!"

"Not even a little out of line?"

"Nope! On that note, wanna hear something cool?"

Wave and I looked at each other.

"What?" I asked.

"I think I should mention, now that we're reaching this point of the story where all the rules so far have been revealed to you, all of them were written by one of the participants of this game!"

I felt like my eyeballs were going to come out of my sockets. But before I could even reply...

"Oh man, I see that look on your face! 'Wahh, Egg Robo! Egg Robo! That can't be true!' Well, guess again, you clods! Because now's the time to reveal that when you all arrived at the main hall on your first day, seventeen people were there, no? But what if I told you there were really EIGHTEEN people participating in this game?"

Now my jaw dropped for real.

"Bet you like that, huh?!"

I thought back to Infinite. Now here Egg Robo was confirming that Infinite was the eighteenth student, just like Vector said…!

"Tell us: why are you only bringing this up NOW?!" Wave questioned.

"Cause of the ratings!"

"Ratings?"

"I just told you all that this killing game was being shown to everyone! And as a result, you all need to be on the same page as everyone else! It would be unfair to you all just like it's unfair to me if you all know something I don't! Make sense?"

Wave said nothing in response.

"Good! Glad we're seeing eye to eye! Well, you guys still have some time left, so be sure to spend these next few minutes finding all the clues you can!"

Egg Robo was about to vanish, but before he could...

"But before I leave… I got ONE more secret to share with you all. I'm so mad at Vector for what he did, I'm gonna say 'screw it' and reveal a secret he doesn't want other people to know! You know those gloves he wears, right? It looks nothing like yours, right? That's because Vector has these special gloves because his hands are super horrific!"

"Horrific?!" I questioned.

"Ho ho ho! No more questions! Wait until he comes back and then see if he wants to respond to that!"

Egg Robo vanished for real as Wave and I simply stood in the middle of Vector's room, not sure what to do or say.

I wrote Egg Robo's account as my fifteenth clue.

"Wave, now does this show you?" I said.

"Show me what?"

"That the body isn't Vector. It's Infinite."

"You sound certain."

"If what Egg Robo says is true, that Vector's hands are as horrific as he puts it out, then why did the body in the garden have his gloves off like it was nothing. Revealing a certain little jackal squad tattoo?!"

"So…" Wave crossed her arms. "You noticed."

"W-What do you mean?! You mean you knew this whole time and didn't tell me?!"

"Naturally. I'm not here to baby you, so I'm glad you have a bit of an eye to tell when something isn't right. Well, regardless, forget about Vector. We need to focus on Egg Robo's trap."

"His trap?"

"Gaia must have made you real slow if you're this dense. What did Egg Robo JUST say?"

"No more questions?..."

Wave glared at me.

"Sorry sorry, I'm kidding. I meant that there were eighteen students here. Infinite was a student here, and yet…"

"Egg Robo wants to imply that it was Infinite creating all of the rules here. Why would he say such a thing?"

"To make sure that we don't blame someone else?"

"Exactly. Knowing the dorkfest and shopper girl, they'd be quick to do such a thing. Infinite has always been related to this case, but now the question begs… did the mastermind kill him?"

"Why do you say that?"

"We're supposed to be having a trial. IF he killed someone and was a student, then he's a participant in this game. It's easy to come to that conclusion. But no… I'm starting to have some doubts. I think that Infinite isn't the culprit!"

I nodded my head. "Go on…"

"All this time, we believed Infinite the Jackal, the Ultimate Despair, was the true mastermind. After all, everything about him spoke mastermind. But if that's true… why would Egg Robo just casually drop his name?"

"That's actually a good point."

"Because I came up with it, of course. If Infinite gave us questions about him, it'd be a very bold move. In that sense, it's easy to write it off as 'Oh hey, we're going to pretend Vector did it,' and we all blame him-"

"Wave, I hope you realize I got SUPER lost like a minute ago because of how off the walls you got."

The swallow sighed. "Idiots, I'm surrounded by them… Okay, let me explain it SIMPLER: Had you not noticed that the body was Infinite, then we would have been led to believe that Vector died, and therefore, we would name Infinite as the culprit. But since you found out that WASN'T the case, Infinite isn't the blackened, but instead, the victim. Why do you think Egg Robo would reveal to us casually that Infinite was one of the participants in this killing game?"

"To lead us into a trap?... To make us pin the blame on Infinite and find out it was too late for us to realize that we were wrong when he reveals that he was the one who died?"

"Exactly."

When she put it like that, it made sense. Egg Robo wanting to lead us into a trap? Sure as heck wasn't the first time… But now this opened a huge can of worms: If Infinite is dead now, who really killed him? That was still the biggest question of them all.

"Well," Wave exhaled. "I think our work here is done. Besides, I think we need to do a little investigation of our own."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

She held up the woodblock key. "Remember?"

And so, while the fake sun shone above us, Wave placed the key inside the keyhole of the locker near the vending machine with hot foods in it.

"Man, I'm kinda hungry…" I said.

"You just ate like, what, not even three hours ago?"

"You call three spoonfuls of oatmeal breakfast?"

"If you wanna get healthy? Yes."

Wave turned the key as the lock made a CLICK noise. Opening it up, I wasn't sure what to expect. I expected to see a secret weapon, like a weight, nunchucks, hell anything except-

"Rings," I said as a pile of rings fell from the locker onto the floor. I picked one up and felt it, realizing it was the real deal.

"Is this someone's secret treasure chest?" Wave asked.

"More like can I have this-"

"Bee, Jet is supposed to be the greedy one, not you."

"Right. Still, it makes you wonder, why all these rings if we can't use them?"

"Not sure, but maybe…"

Wave reached into the pile of rings, pulling out a long sock that I'd see soccer players use.

"Gross," I said, sticking out my tongue. "Who'd be that disgusting? Wave moved the sock around, revealing… blood stains.

"Oh."

I wrote down the rings and the sock as my sixteenth and seventeenth clue.

"It's weird… why would THIS specific locker hide things related to this case?" Wave asked.

"Related? How is some rings and sock related?"

"I think that'll be revealed soon."

"Then why bother asking about it…"

"Because what was the key to this locker doing in Vector's room?"

My eyes widened when I realized what she meant. "Wave?"

"Forget it. Let's just move on."

"No, no no, I think we need to-"

"Well, I think we DON'T need to do anything. Now come on, we need to find out more information on the Jackal Squad."

"You think we have enough time to do anything like that?!"

"If we're fast enough, we do. Now stop your complaining. Tell me, you know where we can find information?"

"Y-You don't even know?!"

"You act like you certainly do."

"Ugh… the archive in the library."

"The archive? Hmm…"

We arrived at the archive and began taking out books and throwing them on the floor if they weren't what we needed.

"You think Egg Robo is gonna mind?" I asked.

"Not like I care," the swallow replied.

"You're speaking my language. Hey, is this it?"

I noticed a file whose header contained the same image as the tattoo on Infinite's hand, showing it to Wave. She crouched down to look at it and nodded.

"Yeah, that's it," Wave took the file and began to read. "The Jackal Squad is a group of mercenaries originating from the jungles of Adabat. As the name implies, all members are Jackals, and they are mainly involved in anti-government actions such as domestic terrorism, and control of certain goods. The group boasts that one soldier is the equivalent to an entire army. Due to their strength, they have been paid by multiple governments and terrorist organizations to fight their wars."

"Unbeknownst to most people however, the Jackal Squad disbanded only a year ago. Rumor has it that all members were killed, but other rumors say that certain members turn up in certain parts of the world. One noticeable member is Infinite the Jackal, leader of the squad. Due to his ties and his leadership, he was placed on the top of G.U.N.'s most wanted terrorists, and he was believed to have been killed due to this. However, certain sources close to the writer of this file has revealed that Infinite is still alive."

My lips were dry as I read this.

"No matter how much I read on Infinite, I can't believe it," I said, shaking my head.

"But isn't it exciting? It's a different world than what you're used to. All I know is the world of racing and thievery, but Infinite and his squad knows the world of… pure villainy. No, I don't think I would describe it as villainy. I would describe it as the world as only a domestic terrorist would know."

Exciting wasn't really the word I'd use…

Before I could respond to that comment, I heard…

*Ding dong, bing bong*

"Oh no…" I said. The monitor in the archive turned on as the zone emblem popped up. Egg Robo popped up on screen, with his stupid glass of wine in his hand.

"If you look at a glass of water, it's like you look at a reflection of life: empty, soulless, and yet, calming to look at. It could be used to describe so many other things, but I think life is the best comparison I can make! Anyway, it's time for your favorite part! Class trial time! You know where to meet!"

The monitor turned off as I bit my lip.

"This again?" I asked.

"You of all people should be excited. You get to say your favorite little catchphrase. Now let's go, you'd rather not want to keep him waiting, no?"

I nodded as I followed Wave to the first floor.

Amy, Tikal, and Silver were already in the usual waiting room when they looked up to see Wave and I enter through the double red doors.

"There you guys are!" Silver said. "Man, seeing you two together like that is a rare sight!"

"If you get that kind of idea in regard to me and the bee, you're just ASKING to be the next victim," Wave threatened.

"I think we've had enough of these trials," Tikal replied. "I'd rather nobody be next."

"As would I."

"Still, I wonder where Vector is? Is he really dead?" Amy pondered, not aware of what Egg Robo had told Wave and I.

"She'll find out soon," Wave said to me. "Anyway, we should just wait here for Egg Robo. I suppose he won't be long."

But Wave was mistaken. We continued to wait for a minute, but he didn't pop up. One minute turned into two, two minutes turned into five, and five minutes turned into ten.

"Jeeeeeeeeeeeeez!" Amy complained, stomping her boot on the ground. "What's taking that dumb egg so long?!"

"Maybe he died again!" Silver said.

"I don't like to wish death on others, but Egg Robo is the only one I would wish divine punishment on!" Tikal added. Before another person could speak up…

"HELLO!" the robot said.

"Augh!"

"What's that reaction, Ms. Tikal? Did I scare ya? Huh? Did I? Did I?"

"Yes, and it WASN'T funny!"

"Eh, get over it, toots. You'll be scared by more things in life besides me!"

"Shut up and tell us why you made us wait!" Wave said, pointing at Egg Robo.

"Why I made you wait? More like why did YOU make me wait? I beat Tomatopotamus: Tomatoes Never Die in the time I should have expected you all to be in this room, and yet all you guys didn't even pop up! And I made sure to keep track of time too!"

"What do you mean, all you guys? We're all here."

"Tell me, Charmy. Did you forget your dad?"

"My… wait, what?!"

"Your dad!"

"My dad isn't here…"

"Not your real dad! I meant Vector!"

"Vector's my dad?"

"Augh, this is what I hate about you! Not only are you annoying, you also DON't get euphemisms and fandom jokes either! No wonder you're so unlikeable! What I'm trying to say is that-"

"I'm not here, right?"

My heart fluttered when I heard the gruff voice of someone dear to me behind me. I turned around to see Vector standing in the entrance.

"VECTOR!" I said, buzzing up to him and hugging him. The crocodile was caught off guard as he chuckled.

"Jeez, I didn't die ya know," he replied.

"See what I mean!" Egg Robo complained behind me. "It's like Vector is his dad or something!"

"OH MY GRAVY, IT'S A GHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOST!" Silver yelled, hands on his forehead.

"Shut up," bemoaned Wave. "Besides, shouldn't there be a penalty for being late?"

"I'm here right now. I think that's grounds fer there NOT bein' a punishment. Besides, it don't say nothin' in the rules," Vector replied.

"It don't say nothin'? Man, not only is your grammar crap, but so is your ability to appear on time!" Egg Robo complained. "IT'S LIKE I HATE YOU MORE AND MORE!..."

Egg Robo's complaints went nowhere as he was ignored.

"Fine, ignore me! See if I care! I'll make you all regret it during the trial! Now go on and march onto the elevator! Go on! Go! Go!"

The robot vanished as Tikal sighed.

"He's driving me up the wall. I wish he stayed destroyed," she said.

"Look at you, Ms. Peaceful calling for more violence," Wave replied.

"I thought I explained myself!"

"Guys, aren't we gonna acknowledge that Vector's ghost is standing right in front of us?!" Silver continued to freak out.

"He's not. Now get on the elevator, dorkfest," said the swallow as she and Tikal got on. Amy shook her head.

"Still can't believe Rosie has a thing for him. He only disappoints me more and more… Nothing like Sonic…" she complained, getting on alongside the others. I wanted to go on with everyone else, but… I couldn't. I HAD to ask Vector where he'd been.

"Listen, Vector," I said. "Before we get on, I have a very serious question."

The crocodile was silent.

"Where were you? You used the chao key, didn't you?" I continued.

"I went to the second-floor dorms," Vector replied.

"T-The second floor?!"

"There's a few things I found out. Namely, there ain't any monitors or cameras there, so Egg Robo wouldn't be able to find me period. The second was that there's a shortcut to the second-floor dorms."

"A… shortcut?"

"D'ya remember that door at the back of the music room? The same one Blaze and Big tried to open? Turns out, that door leads to the second floor, and I was able to get it open. That's how I came back to the main floor without openin' up the gates."

"And why are you only appearing now?"

"Turns out, because I spent all mah time on the second floor, I didn't even know about the announcement or that a body was found."

"Then how did you find out?"

"Wanna hear the truth? Just now, I tried to do some of my own investigation and looked at the body on mah own before comin' here so I wouldn't be unprepared. Of course, I dun have EVERY detail."

"That doesn't seem very good for a detective…"

"Ya gotta make do with whacha got. Still though, sorry fer keepin' yeh all waitin'. And sorry fer disappearin' on ya. Better I appear now than never, no? But what's this 'bout a ghost?"

"Some of us think you were the one killed."

"…even though it's clearly Infinite?"

"Yeah."

"Listen, that's not the point. I realized somethin' 'bout this chao key I stole. See, the key is more useful than we think. It can-"

"Vector, Charmy, what are you two doing?!" Tikal yelled. "Get in here! I want you to explain to me where you've been, Vector!"

"Well, looks like I gotta comfort one of our friends. Oh joy, because I'm so good at that," the crocodile said. "Just tell me whacha already know durin' the trial, I'll see what kinda argument I can make from this."

I nodded. "Gotcha."

"Besides… this is probably the most important thing… fer me."

I kinda jumped hearing that statement. For him? What did he mean by that? Before I could ask, Vector had already entered the elevator, leaving me behind. I finally followed him as the doors to the elevator shut as the elevator shook. Silver sat in the corner, murmuring prayers as Vector tried to avoid telling Tikal much about where he was, Amy was staring into space, while Wave was reviewing the content in her PAD. Meanwhile, I myself just stared at the lights shining up and down my body as we descended lower into the underground.

Myself, Wave, Vector, Tikal, Amy, and Silver…

Were we really the last six survivors that were always meant to take on Egg Robo?

Or were we truly going to lose someone? I felt like we all came too far to fall to him, I would rather sacrifice myself to prevent someone from dying. Surely their ultimate talent could be used to stop Egg Robo compared to my ordinary self…

No, now wasn't the time to be self-deprecating. Because not only was I certain that we could all defeat Egg Robo…

It was because the elevator stopped.

The door opened as my eyes were suddenly blinded by the fluorescent lighting on the floor and walls. It reminded me of a stereotypical disco dance floor, which felt like the most inappropriate place to hold a trial, but this WAS Egg Robo…

Before we could say or do anything, Egg Robo popped up.

"We wasted enough time as is! Hurry, hurry! Get to your assigned stand!" he said. While I was glad there wasn't another addition to the portrait collection, I wasn't looking forward to this class trial, because just like the last five, I knew that the curtains of despair opened once again. This would no doubt be another case of judgement, deception, betrayal, riddles, defenses, faith...

And a case that would lead to another deadly class trial!

Egg Robo grinned once we all got in our assigned stands, took his mallet, and brought the four sided monitor down from the ceiling, slamming his gavel down...

TO BE CONTINUED...