Chapter 2: My World, Your Illusion- Plus One, Minus One

"A letter?" I asked my mother, a Delphox, looking slightly confused. I had never received one before, especially given the fact that we lived on the outskirts of a large forest. Most of the pokémon in the forest weren't friendly to outsiders so most pokémon tended to avoid where I lived.

"Mhm." My mother nodded and handed me and thin slip of paper. I grabbed it and quickly scanned the contents, before my older brother snatched it from my paws with his mouth. "Hey!"

He took a glance at the letter. "An Ultimate Team?" The Quilava asked, giving my mother a strange look.

Delphox gingerly took the letter from him and handed it back to me. "Straight from Wigglytuff himself. They said she was chosen out of luck but…" She smiled down at me. "There is no such thing as luck. Only fate." She hugged me. "I'm sure you'll do great things, my daughter," she whispered, as the rest of my siblings and father exchanged confused looks.

"What are….?" I tried to ask, before everything turned to black.

Xxx

I opened my eyes, suddenly, startling Zebstrika who stumbled back with a surprised cry. "B-Braixen?!" he cried, before quickly taking a couple of breaths. "Jeez, you scared me…"

I sat up and glanced around my surroundings, while holding my head. "What… what happened?" I asked, the dream I just had still replaying itself in my mind.

"You blacked out," Zebstrika explained. "Monotuff shocked you and Blissey said that you collapsed from the pain. Everyone's been taking turns keeping an eye on you." He let out another sigh, this time of relief. "Thank god though. I thought you were pretty much dead at that point."

"Dead?" I blinked and suddenly sprang up to my feet. "W-wait! Didn't Monotuff say that-!?" I couldn't bring myself to finish the sentence.

Zebstrika looked away. "We don't know for sure," he said nervously. "We haven't seen anyone else here or in Treasure Town this entire time. Monotuff could be lying for all we know. I wouldn't worry about it, Braixen."

I simply nodded, unable to wrap my head around it. "Y-you're right," I stammered out. I shook my head. "How long have I been out?" I asked. Given that I had woken up in my room, I could assume that the others had carried me here.

"A full day," Zebstrika answered. "It's almost noon." He seemed to hesitate. "Metang said we should all meet up, before it got to that time so that we're all together when the number ticks down again." He gave me an awkward look. "So, are you fine to go or…?"

I hesitated, but nodded. "I-I'm fine," I replied, wincing slightly. "I can go."

"Alright." Zebstrika seemed to brighten up, as he headed towards the door. He stopped at the entrance and looked at me, still slightly worried. "I… hope your family is alright," he said quickly leaving my room.

I clutched my chest and rubbed my eyes of the tears that had begun to spring up.

Please… please let them be alright…

Xxx

I was the last one to enter the mess hall. So naturally any conversation that anyone was having quickly died down the moment that I entered the hall. "H-hey," I nervously said, taking a seat at the end of the table near Gengar of all people. He quickly averted his eyes and looked desperately at Metang.

Metang coughed. "Braixen, are you alright?"

"I'm fine!" I insisted. "Don't worry about me!"

"…. If you are sure," Metang said. "But, I guess this is the start of the third daily meeting of the Ultimate Team." He gave me an expressionless look. "Since you blacked out, you missed the one we had yesterday right after Monotuff's own meeting."

I nodded. "I'm sorry," I muttered, lowering my head.

"I-It's not your fault, Braixen!" Zebstrika tried to say.

"Hmph, speak for yourself," Lycanroc grunted.

"Anyway." Metang gave the both of them a sharp glare and the two shrank under it. "It's almost noon. That means the number will go down by one once again. And if what Monotuff was true then one of us will be electrocuted again."

We all opened the holograms and checked the time. At the moment it was 11:57. "So long do we have?" Ribombee asked, raising her hand.

"About three minutes," Gengar, surprisingly, answered.

"T-three m-minutes?!" Froslass. "Are we just going to l-let this h-happen?!"

"We have no choice," Greninja answered. "Monotuff is nowhere to be found and we already spent the majority of last night looking for any other sign of life." She sighed. "Just understand that you aren't the one in the most danger." She glanced over at Pelipper who was shaking like a leaf.

"I-I-I-I-I-I-I'm f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f-f-fine," Pelipper managed to stammer out with some effort.

"I will be alright, too," Greninja said simply, looking rather calm despite her situation. "I've learned to handle electrocution."

I swallowed, as I watched the time on my dashboard slowly tick forward. Everyone else waited with bated breath.

11:58

11:59

12:00

12:01

I blinked and lightly touched the collar around my neck. I hadn't felt anything. I glanced around and everyone else had the same expression of relief present on their faces. Pelipper was especially glad, and was looking at the ceiling repeating the words, "Thank you. Thank you."

"Ergg…"

"Metang!" Blissey jumped out of her seat, as Metang suddenly groaned and floated to the ground. She quickly fell down next to the metal body and inspected him. "Are you alright?!"

"I'm…" Metang let out a groan as his metal creaked. "okay. I was the one who was shocked." He grimaced and, despite Blissey's protests, floated back up. "I'll be alright," he said smoothly. "It wasn't too bad."

Gengar grinned. "That's the Ultimate Genius for you!"

"You should rest," Blissey ordered as Metang cringed. "One shock was already enough to knock out Braixen, so if you are pushing yourself then you're doing nothing but hurt your body."

Metang seemed to cringe. "Alright," he relented. He waved a clawed hand. "You're all dismissed. I would usually suggest a plan in this case, but I'm drawing a blank." He gazed at all if us with a leveled look. "If anyone can come up with anything then feel free to share it with everyone tomorrow." With Blissey guiding him, Metang floated out of the Mess Hall. A couple of others like Ribombee and Lucario followed them out rather quickly.

Everyone else stayed seated for a second or two before getting up and filing out. I was the last one to get up from the table, only to be roughly pushed back down in my seat by a stray elbow. "Huh?" I looked around, alarmed. No one was near me and the only other person inside was Lycanroc.

He scowled. "What?!" he asked, grinding his teeth.

"N-nothing," I said, brushing off the incident. Soon after, I left with one question on my mind.

What would I even do for the rest of the day?

Xxx

For whatever reason, I found myself inside the Deliveryman Gym after wandering around for a while. To my surprise, not only Pelipper was inside, but Lucario was there rummaging through a box of letters.

He looked up and brightened the moment that he noticed me. "Braixen! Glad to see you up and about!"

"Hello Lucario," I greeted amicably, a little put off by his energy. As nice as Lucario was he was a little too boisterous for me. I glanced past him over to where the shelves of letters were stored. "What are you doing?"

"Metang wanted me to check the post office with Pelipper go check to see if there's any clue to the missing townspeople!" He answered quickly.

"We've found nothing yet," Pelipper grumbled in the background, grabbing another letter with his beak. "This is worthless."

"We haven't been searching for long!" Lucario insisted. "We could still find something!" He turned back to me. "Would you mind helping us?"

I shook my head. "I don't mind." I took a small look around. "Where should I start?"

"Errrr…" Lucario went silent.

Pelipper, still flying above us, let out a loud sigh. "You can take the right side," he said, matter-of-factly. "Just be sure to keep everything organized."

I blinked surprised at Pelipper's attitude. "Alright?" He made a small grunt as a response.

For the next few hours, or until 6 as my clock told me, all of us worked in silence flipping through the letters that were stuffed in boxes around the post office. Pelipper, to my surprise, worked diligently and was already finished scouring most of the top shelves that me and Lucario couldn't reach after only a couple of hours. After he was done, he came back down to the ground to help us with the boxes that littered the gym. By the time it was 6, Lucario and I had only managed to sort out one box each while Pelipper had been already finished with most of the others.

I had blinked, seeing the numerous of organized boxes that surrounded Pelipper. "Wow," I said aloud. "You're really good at this."

"Hmph." Pelipper smirked and dusted himself off. "Of course, I am. But you want to know what else am good at in your-"

"No wonder you're the Ultimate Deliveryman," I interrupted him before he could say anything else.

Pelipper seemed to sag at those words. "I guess," he said. "It's just knowing how to organize. It isn't all that impressive."

"Nonsense!" Lucario said. "You should be proud of your talent."

Pelipper scowled. "It isn't much of a talent. I'm just good at delivering letters. The only reason I was picked was a fluke."

"Nonsense!" Lucario repeated. "Nothing is a fluke. You earned your title through your own effort! You should be proud of that!"

"A fluke?" I asked, ignoring Lucario given the fact that I was currently here. Being lucky wasn't a talent anyway.

"There was this giant storm," Pelipper explained. "Lasted for about two weeks. There was a load of letters that had yet to be delivered including a box of medicine for a group of villagers that were dying from some sort of disease." He sighed. "We had a line of deliverymen and pelippers, stationed at various posts. I was the last one to finally deliver the medicine…"

"Wait…" I blinked, the story ringing a bell in my mind. "I remember hearing about that! The villagers were affected by some sort of disease from a mystery dungeon and they were saved by a cure that had been delivered! That was you?!"

"Mhm." He nodded, looking slightly guilty.

"You should be proud!" Lucario insisted with a grin. "Didn't you save all those people?!"

"Uh-huh." Pelipper sounded unimpressed as he turned to look at Lucario. "Well then what is the deal with your talent, Ultimate Fighter? Anyone can fight. Doesn't sound like a great talent."

I winced slightly, but Lucario didn't seem to catch Pelipper rude tone. "Well, it's mostly because I've studied all types and forms of martial arts. But I've also been a part of an exploration team before."

"An exploration team?" I perked up. While I knew that some pokémon here had been a member in their own exploration team before, I never actually got a chance to ask anyone about it. "How was it?" I asked, seeing Pelipper scoff out of the corner of my eye.

Lucario didn't seem to notice the bird. "It was just the three of us," he explained, wistfully. "Blaziken, me and Weavile. We were known as Team Honor." Pelipper let out a chuckle, before hastily covering it up with a cough. "We traveled everywhere together for a good four years. We even went to Foggy Forest to try and find the treasure that was said to be hidden there."

"Did you find anything?"

Lucario faltered. "N-no," he answered hastily. "But we were great."

"In your opinion," Pelipper mumbled.

"I've heard that some exploration teams had access to mega evolution!" I said, excitedly. Delphoxes couldn't mega evolve so that was already a pipe dream for me, but it was fascinating enough for any pokémon that knew about it. "Can you mega evolve?" Even Pelipper seemed intrigued by the question, as we both looked at Lucario expectantly.

Lucario face quickly changed expressions, going from confused to terrified to anger all in a split second. "No," he muttered, loud enough for the both of us to hear. "None of us could mega evolve. It's not like we wanted to anyway."

He looked a bit irritated, so I quickly backpedaled. "Still an exploration team is still incredible!" I said brightly. "You all must've worked well together if you were together for four years."

"Yeah…" Lucario seemed to mull over my words for a couple seconds.

"Or he was just as annoying as he was now," Pelipper muttered.

"That's it!" Lucario's proclamation made us jump. "I know what we've got to do!" He rushed out of the post office, while me and Pelipper watched.

"What was all that about?" Pelipper wondered aloud.

"No idea," I replied, still looking at the door.

Pelipper slid over next to me and I quickly took a step back. "Well you're welcome to-!"

"I'm hungry," I interrupted, once again. "I think I'll go eat."

"But-!"

"Bye." I waved and quickly dashed out of the post office, before Pelipper could say anything else. He was a nice guy and all, at least until he started talking about… that.

Xxx

I was starving.

Working nearly half a day and sleeping for the other, I realized that I had barely gotten any sort of lunch or breakfast. So I was pretty excited as I climbed down the ladder, carefully, and hopped onto the main floor into complete chaos.

Lucario was flung into the wall next to me, landing on the floor with a load grunt. I let out a cry and stumbled away from him, as Lycanroc stomped over to the fallen pokémon. He picked up Lucario by the throat and held him against the wall. "The fuck you suggesting?!" he yelled right into Lucario's face.

"I just said-!" Lucario started to say, only to get pushed more tightly against the wall by Lycanroc before he could get out any more words.

"W-What's going on?!" I asked, turning to the others that seemed to be just watching the entire exchange. Among the group was Grovyle, Zebstrika, Ribombee and Blissey.

"Hmph." Grovyle just seemed to shrug and walk away.

"I-I don't know," Zebstrika stammered out. "Lucario was just talking to Lycanroc and then Lycanroc just threw him into the wall!"

"

"You think we can fight that thing?!" Lycanroc shouted into Lucario's face. "What if your plan fails, huh?! Maybe he'll just decide to fuck everyone we care about!"

"Nngh…" Lucario glared right into Lycanroc's eyes. "That… That won't happen…"

"Heh." Lycanroc dropped him onto the ground. "I ain't doing that shit," he spat, before sauntering back towards the rooms. "If anything, I'll kill before you ever have the chance to make a move," he said ominously.

Once he was gone, I and the others rushed to Lucario's side. Blissey quickly checked him, before sighing in relief. "You're fine," she said to him. "Nothing wrong at all."

"What happened?" I asked him. We had left the post office literal minutes from each other and he had somehow managed to piss off Lycanroc so quickly?

"I'm fine," he said, mirroring Blissey's words. "We just got into an argument."

"About what?" Ribombee asked.

Lucario glanced around, before lowering his voice. "I already asked Metang. We're meeting in the afternoon in the center of Treasure Town." He gave a small grin. "We're going to take down Monotuff!"

Zebstrika nervously looked around. "Are you serious?" he hissed. "He exploded the last time, Lycanroc tried to threaten him. Plus, the rules-!"

"Are shit," Lucario finished for him, with a serious look in his eyes. "No pokémon can self-destruct and not take any residual damage. If we gang up on him…"

"We can finish him off?" I asked.

Lucario nodded. "We're the Ultimate Exploration Team. If we work together then we can accomplish anything!" He grinned, but winced slightly. "If we all face him in a honorable battle then there's no way we can't win!"

Blissey shot him a look. "Metang said we would discuss the possibility in the square tomorrow," she pointed out. "We're not actually doing it."

"…True," Lucario admitted. "But we can do it together! I know we can!"

I looked away, unsure of what to think. Lucario's plan seemed to be rather on the moment. "Is that why Lycanroc…?"

"He didn't like the idea. I doubt that he or anyone else would kill but if he does actually have our families then there's little choice in the matter. We have to fight!" He was trying to convince us.

"We'll talk about it tomorrow," Blissey insisted. "Metang, Ribombee and I will spread the word to the rest of the team."

Lucario hesitated. "O-okay."

Blissey muttered something under her breath and lifted Lucario with the help of Ribombee, before heading towards the rooms, most likely to take care of him.

Zebstrika and I were left behind and after quickly grabbing a bite to eat from the mess hall, we said our goodbyes and heading off to our rooms.

As I lay down on my pile of hay to rest, I thought about the day's events. Nothing much had happened in retrospect. I had failed to find anything about our current situation in the post office and Lucario revealed his intentions about fighting Monotuff.

Still the idea of fighting and defeating Monotuff in an all-out attack seemed plausible at least to me. If Metang was there then his wisdom would become invaluable in a sort of battle.

Killing, huh?

The very idea was laughable. No one would ever kill. No one would ever die.

Right?

That question plagued me as I drifted off to sleep.

Xxx

I slept peacefully during the night without a dream to even speak of. Of course, as if fate wanted to mock me, I had woken up earlier than I had ever had the right to be. So, when I walked into the mess hall, I wasn't surprised to find it completely empty.

What I was surprised to see was a noticeable lack of berries and fruit on the table. Nearly all the bowls were empty and my favorite type, pecha, had been completely eaten up by someone. I grimaced. There went my good mood for the day.

I was about to take a seat and wait for the others when I remembered that Ribombee had a garden filled with berries. I could grab some breakfast from there. Feeling slightly happier, I climbed out of the guild and headed towards Sharpedo's Bluff.

On the way, I spotted Lycanroc rummaging around in Kecleon's shop. I was about to ask him what he was doing, but he spotted me even before I could even open my mouth and let out a low growl. He didn't need to say anything else. I quickly dashed forward towards Sharpedo's Bluff and towards the Botanist Gym without saying anything else.

It's none of my business, I assured myself.

At the Botanist Gym, I found that it wasn't empty like I had originally thought. Instead, both Ribombee and Blissey were both inside watering the plants. I stood in place, wondering what to say, when Ribombee looked up from her plants. "Oh, Braixen!" She looked delighted. "What are you doing here?"

I gave them a nervous smile. "I was hoping that you could spare some berries for breakfast," I explained. "We ran out in the mess hall."

Ribombee blinked. "We did."

"Y-Yes?"

"That's strange," she said. "Monotuff said that the food in the mess hall is replenished every day at in between meals. Unless someone took everything this morning then we shouldn't be out, since Monotuff would replenish it at midnight."

The explanation made my head spin. "Yes," I repeated. "So, can I have some?"

Ribombee nodded and handed me a straw basket. "Of course. Just remember to tell me how much you get," she said.

I cocked my head to the side. "Why?"

"I need to keep track of how many berries there are." She gestured over to a small chalkboard hanging off the wall, with pictures and numbers on it. "If I don't know how much berries I currently have then I'll end up using too little or too much water when taking care of them."

I blinked. "Alright." I made a beeline to the pecha berries and filled my basket full of them. I was actually amazed. These berries were actually a looked a lot tastier than the ones that I had seen in the mess hall.

I brought my basket and handed it over to Ribombee. "No wonder you're the Ultimate Botanist," I complimented.

Ribombee blushed. "T-thank you, but I don't actually do much." she muttered as she looked over my goods before handing me the basket. "Are you going to Lucario's meeting in the afternoon?" she asked me after clearing her throat.

"Mhm!" My mouth had already taken a bit of one of the berries. I swallowed. "But Lycanroc doesn't seem too fond of it," I admitted. "You don't think he might do something?"

"I wouldn't worry about it," Blissey piped up. "I've seen his type in the emergency room all the time. The ones who say that they can do something, but at the end of the day they lack the courage needed to get them move in any way." She snorted. "It really isn't that impressive."

I frowned. "I guess I'll take your word for it," I said.

"You'll be fine, Braixen," Ribombee said. "Things will work out." She handed me a larger basket filled to the brim with more fruits and vegetables. "This is for the others," she instructed.

I nodded. "Bye," I said to the two of them, waving. I headed back towards the guild, spotting Lycanroc still in Kecleon's Shop along the way. I quickly dashed past it, hoping that we wouldn't cross eyes. I was lucky. He was too busy to give me any notice.

Xxx

I placed the two baskets down on the table and took a seat. I smiled and began to reach for a berry, so that I could enjoy my breakfast.

"Fuck yeah, there's food now!"

Lycanroc suddenly bounded into the mess hall and grabbed an apple from the basket. I froze, and he gave me a strange look. "What'd you want?" he snorted, taking a bite from the fruit.

"Weren't you just at Kecleon's Shop?" I asked.

Lycanroc frowned. "No?" he answered. "You on something? I've been in my room this entire time."

"But I-!" I started to say.

"Whatever." Lycanroc just shrugged and walked away, his arms cradling several apples.

I frowned, unsure of what to make of the situation. Was he lying?

Ah well.

I took several more minutes to enjoy my breakfast.

Xxx

There were still a few hours left until Lucario's meeting, so I had some time to spare. I ended up wandering around the field that contained the Pelipper's post office. I was going back to see if he had anything else for me to do, since we were unable to find anything the day before.

I stopped just in the middle of the field, feeling a sudden sort of dread. I turned to my right to see a large column of dirt coming towards me with Zebstrika leading.

"Waugh!" I jumped to the right, as Zebstrika raced past me. He slowed down and quickly turned around, alarmed.

"Braixen, are you alright?!" He quickly asked, looking both guilty and scared.

"I'm fine." I quickly stood back up. "But what were you…?"

"Racing!" he immediately answered me, seemingly forgetting that he nearly run me over just a few moments again. "I haven't been getting much practice, so I thought I could get some excerise in the field here!"

"O-oh." I nodded. "Makes sense."

"Hey you mind helping with my timing?!" he asked enthusiastically. "It's impossible to see the hologram in these collars while I'm running."

I nodded again. "Sure," I replied, opening up the hologram in front of my face. I assumed he wanted me to use the clock to time him. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah!" He took position in front of me. "Just tell me when to go!"

"Um… Go?" Just as the words exited my mouth, I felt all my fur stand up on its end as Zebstrika dashed forward with the air around him crackling with electricity. I blinked and already found himself halfway across the field. I quickly checked the time and, only a few moments later, I heard him calling out asking for the time. "Two... Two minutes!" I answered back.

This went on up for a couple of hours, up until Zebstrika was moving so fast that I couldn't tell the clock was actually too slow for me to measure his speed. Once I told him that, he trotted back towards me, a grin evident on his face. "That was nice," he said.

"I'm impressed," I admitted. Despite his normalcy, he still was an Ultimate, after all.

"Thanks!" Zebstrika nodded, as he sat down on the grass to take a breather. "With everything that's been going one, this is the only thing to take my mind of it."

"How many races have you won?" I asked, my curiosity piqued.

Zebstrika hesitated. "Not a lot given what I'm called." He chuckled shrewdly. "About maybe… ten?"

"Ten? Is that a lot?"

"Um… not really." Zebstrika said, abashed. "My mentor actually has won about 300 more than I have. Still…" He sighed. "I've only been in ten races. So by that logic I've won one hundred percent."

"Sure." I didn't really know what he meant by all of that. Even if he had one hundred percent then he still had won less than his teacher. Was that really worth celebrating?

"I'll beat him one day," Zebstrika muttered, his gaze suddenly growing serious. "I'll get out of here and I won't lose again."

I tried to ask him what he meant, but before I could get a word in, Zebstrika stood back up. "Alright!" he said sounding more determined. "Let's do this again!"

I blinked. "Already?!"

"Yep!" He grinned. "But since the clock doesn't work anymore, maybe you should just count with your head!"

"W-what?!" I spluttered. "I-I can't-!"

"Alright! Ready, set, GO!" Zebstrika dashed forward in the middle of me speaking doing a lap around the field.

For the next two hours, I was forced to keep track of Zebstrika's speed using nothing but my head. It was definitely harder than I thought it would be and by the end of it all, I could feel a headache forming. At around lunch we headed back down towards the mess hall for some lunch.

Xxx

I found only four people in the mess hall when I entered. Ribombee and Blissey were near the far end in a heated discussion, so I decided not to bother them. The only other two were Pelipper, who was chewing rather happily on some fruit, and Marowak, who was polishing her bone with a nearby knife.

She looked up. "Ah good, you're here. You missed another person getting shocked."

"A-Ah!" I gasped. "Who was it?!" Zebstrika and I were completely fine, so it couldn't have been one of us.

"Hmph." Marowak spun her club in her hand. "It was me. I'm just lucky I'm a ground-type."

"Oh…" Zebstrika looked down. "I'm sorry to hear that…"

"Eh." Marowak shrugged. "I just hope it was one of the old curmudgeons in the archeological society that died. Especially Old Man Gigalith. What a dumbass."

"Well if you're alright…" I said somewhat uncertainly, sitting down at the table across from her.

"It's alright as long as I don't get hurt!" Pelipper suddenly spoke up, with surprising force.

"Right…" Zebstrika sighed.

"Better eat up," Marowak said, nodding towards the food. "Lucario's meeting starts soon." She shrugged. "Despite how hopeless it is, in my opinion." She stood up. "I guess I've enjoyed my last meal." With those ominous words she left.

"Edge," Pelipper grumbled, shoveling some more fruit into his mouth. He swallowed and gave Zebstrika and me a nod. "See ya." He flew out as Blissey and Ribombee followed still talking with each other.

The two of us ate in silence. Lycanroc came in at one point and grabbed some food, before leaving without a word.

Soon enough it was time. Both me and Zebstrika went to the surface and headed towards the Treasure Town's square in front of the Berserker Gym. There we found nearly everyone waiting there. Except for one person…

I looked around. "Where's Grovyle?" I asked.

"He didn't want to come," Lucario answered, sounding disappointed. "He didn't seem keen on my idea. But…" He glanced at Lycanroc who was standing in the back of the group. "I'm glad that you came, Lycanroc."

Lycanroc just snorted and adjusted the bag strapped around his shoulder.

"Enough." Metang floated up next to Lucario. "The third Ultimate Exploration Team meeting starts now." He gave Lucario a nod. "We were thinking of rebelling against Monotuff. Destroy the guildmaster and perhaps we can escape or at the very least find out where the hostages are."

"If there are any," Porygon muttered.

"Nevertheless, we have to try," Metang said with a nod.

"Do you here that, Monotuff!" Lucario yelled to the air. "Come out here and fight us if you have any honor!"

Everyone tensed, but Monotuff never came.

Lucario cleared his throat. "Fight us!" he demanded. "If you have any-!"

"He isn't coming." Lycanroc suddenly moved forward, interrupting Lucario's yelling. He stood in the middle of the group and face Metang and Lucario. "But…" He raised a pale blue orb into the air and it began to spew a pale pink mist. "I don't think that's of any worry."

No one moved as the mist drifted around us. I breathed some in and immediately felt dizzy. I rubbed my head as I fell to my knees, my eyelids heavy.

"This is…" I heard Gengar say.

"No!" Greninja dashed forward, but it was already too late. Most of the others had already fallen asleep and I could feel myself doing the same.

For the third time that week I blacked out.

Xxx

I woke up.

I couldn't tell how much time had passed.

As I got up and looked around I found everyone even Lycanroc passed out on the ground. I leaned down to see if I could wake up the closest person next to me, only the sound of glass shattering cut through the quiet like lightning.

I turned my head towards the Berserker Gym and I felt myself grow cold. One of the windows of the gym had been shattered and stained in some sort of red… liquid.

My feet heavy I moved towards the gym's doors and pulled them open. I jumped back, as cold water tinged red rushed around over my feet and spilled over onto the square.

I looked inside.

What?

I don't understand…

I don't… I don't… I don't…

A zoroark was handcuffed to the steel beams of the exercise equipment that I had made with Lycanroc just two days before, his body leaning forward only held up in the air by the handcuffs attached to the steel beams. Blood clung to the fur on his head and there was a small hole in his stomach, slowly pooling blood to the floor. A gray piece of paper was over his mouth.

I stood there my mouth flapping uselessly.

"Braixen?" I turned around to see Noivern up, as she walked up towards me. "What are you…?" She caught sight of the body. "What are you…?"

"Ugh…" Lycanroc stood up and noticed me. "Hey what did I say about…" He caught glimpse of the body. "What… WHAT THE FUCK?!"

"Yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo, yo," Noivern repeated on a loop.

Ding Dong! Bing Bong!

Monotuff's voice suddenly came out of nowhere, echoing from every single direction. "A dead body has been discovered! After a set period of time a guild trial will begin!"

I felt sick.

I don't…

My stomach churned.

I just don't understand…

"Yo, yo, yo, yo," Noivern continued to say in shock, as the others began to stir.

Just what is going on…?

Alive (15):

Braixen: Ultimate Luckster

Grovyle: Ultimate ?

Noivern: Ultimate Rock Star

Marowak: Ultimate Archeologist

Pelipper: Ultimate Deliveryman

Froslass: Ultimate Dancer

Lycanroc: Ultimate Berserker

Lucario: Ultimate Fighter

Blissey: Ultimate Healer

Porygon 2: Ultimate Hacker

Gengar: Ultimate Infiltrator

Zebstrika: Ultimate Racer

Metang: Ultimate Genius

Ribombee: Ultimate Botanist

Greninja: Ultimate Assassin

Dead (1):

Zoroark: Ultimate ?

Huh.

I'm pretty sure that I was supposed to reveal the 16th one at the end of the story. As a sort of mastermind to the events that were occurring. The protagonist would get accused of a crime and be subsequently saved through something. Then she would learn of the 16th as the mastermind.

Whoops.

Guess I threw that twist out early.

On that note, I hope everyone liked the "Free Time Events." (I only did Zebstrika because a guest reviewer had requested him.) If they are fine in this style, then feel free to ask for preferred characters and all that. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the characters so far. It's technically my first time doing a full OC DR story like this and any criticism would be welcome. Plus I'd love to hear some theories on whodunnit.

Hope you enjoyed! Reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated!