His entire head hurt. He could feel soft white sheets around his body. As he opened his eyes, his crimson eyes saw a brightly lit room. The ceiling had a huge silver chandelier hanging there, each bulb softly radiating golden light. The same black and white art deco triangles covered the walls. The floor was wooden. He softly groaned.

Where was he?

He was trying to remember what happened.

Then it came to him. That room. All the masks. Them voting for execution. And then... He saw a flash of Wolf's dead body, having been electrocuted to death. He remembered the pain-filled screams of agony as he recalled Wolf's limbs seizing in excruciating agony and the way he twitched violently as his fur began burning like he was on fire. His throat filled with bile as he grabbed a table end to sit himself up. His stomach churned. He saw a door to a bathroom. He barely got there in time before he vomited violently into the sink, overcome by disgust and horror. He fell to his knees, huffing for oxygen. He was shaking all over, the faint feeling coming back. It was only then that he realized he wasn't wearing his mask. It was nice to have it off. The back of his head itched from the type of material used. He was faintly aware of a door opening and closing. He wanted to get up but his legs just felt numb.

"Lu?" He recognised Sonic's voice and his aura. He saw him crumpled in the bathroom. His eyes widened and he got to his side. "Are you okay!? Were you sick!?"

"I-I'm fine..." He croaked. He shakily got to his feet with Sonic's help, his body shaking. Sonic washed the sink clean and got the Pokemon a drink of water.

"Just take it easy, you took a hard hit to the head. You fainted in the foyer a few hours ago." Sonic guided him to the bed. The hedgehog was pale too, still disturbed over recent events. Had he been sick as well? Judging by his white face and heavy breathing, that was a confirmed yes, and not too long ago either. "I'm glad you're okay though, I was really worried...everyone was..." He looked away bashfully.

"I'm sorry, that wasn't my intention..."

"I know that. I know it just happened. A few others haven't been well either, especially the younger ones in the group. I mean, Ai and Lucas have been crying non stop..." He recalled how many of the the group were still trying to process their situation. Fox had pretty much barricaded himself in his room, with a few yelling at him when they passed. Falco had been guarding the door, mostly since he was on Fox's side. He knew the vulpine and knew he wasn't cruel or sadistic, or was he? A few alliances had also been forming. Samus and Snake. All the princesses. The swordsmen. Sonic still hadn't figured out his secret nemesis, the one who had unfairly voted for him. Someone didn't like him here, and he wanted to find out who.

"Ai doesn't have death in her world, and Lucas has had a lot of loss in his life. Both didn't need to see that." Lucario pointed out. Sonic nodded, only to tremble. He covered his mouth with both hands as felt sickness overcome him. He sped into the bathroom, locking the door behind him. Lucario could hear him retching. He was in there for a good 20 minutes before emerging. Lucario passed him the glass of water.

After downing the whole glass to freshen up his mouth, Sonic looked down and sat on the bed. "I've been thinking...I have a feeling someone in the group did this to us."

"Interesting theory."

"I mean, I got no evidence...unless this is one of Master Hand's elaborate tricks."

"Wolf is dead, I doubt that." He saw Sonic flinch. "Sorry..."

"No no, it's...it's fine..." He tried to compose himself, rubbing sweat off his forehead. "If we all did something bad, any idea what you might have done?"

"I could ask you the same question. Honestly...I don't know..."

"Same. I've not done anything intentionally. Whatever my sin is, it wasn't out of malice." He sighed. "I also worked something out. The masks. They have a meaning."

Lucario sat up. "Meaning? You noticed too?"

"I think they relate to the seven deadly sins. The rabbit mask is lust, while the dog means envy. Those are the only two I've deciphered for sure. I think I know the others just based on the actual animals. The wolf is wrath, the lion is pride, the bear is sloth, the pig is gluttony and the fox is greed."

"I'm glad we're on the same page. I think this information is something we need to keep secret though." Sonic nodded in agreement. A knock came at the door. It opened and it was Rosalina.

"O-oh, I apologize. I was not trying to interrupt your conversation." The cosmic princess stuttered, feeling embarrassed.

"No no it's okay Rose, it's all good. What's up?" Sonic reassured. Rosalina sighed and continued.

"I was just curious if you two were coming to join us, we are about to share our findings."

"Oh right! We'll be right there." He winked and did a thumbs up again.

"Findings?" Lucario asked.

"While you were out, everyone's been investigating this place." Sonic explained as they followed the cosmic princess to a living room area.

"There's Lucario!! You doing okay, dude?" Dedede greeted. Lucario sat down and nodded.

"Doing a lot better." He said.

"Alright, we got really worried when you lost consciousness. Especially Sonic, he--" Before Mario got further, he got cut off.

"Imma gonna cut you off right there Mar. Shut up." Sonic glared at Mario, who just shrugged. Sonic then looked away slightly, hiding a blush.

"Alright!! All cards on the table folks! The more information we have, the sooner we can blow this popsicle stand." Captain Falcon announced.

"Well, barely any of the house is accessible. We only have the bedrooms, this room and the foyer. The bedrooms are all identical and they have no windows." Ness started. "They all have unpickable locks."

"I can attest to that. Both me and Snake tried. No dice." Bayonetta examined her nails. Snake nodded in agreement.

"I tried punching the walls for an hour straight. It's as hard as steel." The king Koopa growled.

"It is steel, so that makes sense." Samus scolded Bowser, who rubbed his head sheepishly.

"There seem to be another floor above the bedrooms, but it's behind a stair gate." Diddy Kong piped up. "DK tried destroying it, but it didn't budge."

"So we are essentially trapped here..." Sheik sighed. "How troublesome..."

"But surely someone would have noticed our absences!! Master Hand for one! And all our friends back home." Corrin tried to encourage. "I'm sure help will arrive soon!"

"Speak for yourselves. My friends haven't spoken to me for weeks." Sonic mumbled, leaning against a wall. His comment mostly got ignored, though a few looked at him with sympathy.

A buzzer then went off and lighted arrows began popping up on the walls. Everyone got up and followed them. A door at the end of the foyer opened that was locked before. It led to a large dining room with a diamond table. It was covered in food that looked like it belonged in five star restaurants, but also some favourite foods. There was a note.

Congratulations on surviving the first round. --8

"Who goes by a number? Is this food even safe?" Meggy, the Inkling, whispered. Sonic saw they had chilli dogs and went to grab one. His hand was slapped away by Pit.

"Hang on, this food could be poisoned or spiked. Did you literally forget what Meggy just said? You always think with your stomach." The angel scolded. Sonic was about to protest but he knew it was true. He started feeling paranoid. Was anything in this place safe? They suddenly felt a sharp wind and saw Kirby swallow a good amount of food before gleefully leaving. He puffed himself up and floated back to his bedroom. The group wordlessly looked at each other. Who else was going to be a guinea pig? A loud growl came from the king of Koopas, Bowser.

"I...guess the food is okay? Oh what the heck, I've lived a good life." Bowser took a bite of a hotdog. Everyone waited with baited breath. He then shrugged. "Tastes normal enough..."

At that, everyone sat and began to eat. Lucario tucked into a Fancy Apple Curry but noticed Sonic was barely touching his chilli dogs. That was odd, as even when he was sick, he ate them, even if he regretted it later. He looked at him. "You alright? Isn't like you to not be hungry."

"..."

"Sonic?" He waved a hand in front of his face. He got nothing. He saw others starting to notice. Lucario grabbed his hand and guided him upstairs. They got to their bedroom. He sat the silent hedgehog on the bed, and he sat next to him, tightly clenching his hand. "Come on Sonic, talk to me. Please tell me what is wrong. You're starting to scare me..." He whispered, his ears drooping. He suddenly saw his eyes dilate and dart in his direction. Lucario jumped back a bit. He was a bit afraid.

"Can't you see?!" He growled, eyes wild. "Nobody is going to survive this game!! We're all going to die!!" He swung a punch, but missed.

"Sonic, calm down! You're getting hysterical! You need to get a hold of yourself!" He dodged another punch. This definitely wasn't like Sonic at all. He was never violent like this, or...or laughed like this. He sounded insane. He was repeating the fact that everyone was destined to die. His paws clenched. Desperate times called for desperate measures. Lucario hated himself for doing this but he stood up, dodged a punch and slapped Sonic hard across the face. He fell backwards, returning to normal. He held his hurt cheek. Lucario was breathing heavily. He felt terrible. He shakily approached him. "You...you okay Blue? I didn't want to do that...!" He felt tears prick his eyes. Sonic looked up, feeling like he was in a daze.

"What...? What happened? My head feels like it's made of jelly."

"You don't remember...?" After Sonic slowly shook his head, Lucario knelt by him and hugged him close. "Please, you need to keep your head. I'll leave it there."

"I'm really confused as to where this is coming from...but okay, I will." He hugged back. He felt his cheeks flush. He never understood why Lucario cared so much for him, but he appreciated the support.

"If...if we survive the next round, I want to tell you something."

"Why can't you tell me now?"

"I guess I could...Sonic, I--"

They got interrupted by the door loudly shutting. Lucario got up to try and open it, failing. Sonic saw two vents in the wall open, starting to emit a faint white mist. After a few minutes, they started feeling sleepy.

"It's...sleeping gas..." Lucario realized before losing the ability to stand. Sonic was struggling to stay awake. Both passed out on the floor.

XO

Downstairs, the same was happening. The doors had suddenly closed and sleeping gas was being pumped into the room.

"Everyone, hold your breath!!" Roy suggested, but it only increased their time awake by a few minutes. The last one awake was Mewtwo. As he lay on the floor, half conscious, he saw black armoured men enter the room, re-fitting the animal masks. He saw another figure enter, though at the angle he was at, he couldn't see much. Eventually he was grabbed and was about to get his wolf mask fitted when he heard a dark chuckle.

"Night night, poor little Pokemon..." A stronger form of the gas was blown at his face, instantly knocking him out. He then chuckled to himself. "Let the next round begin..."