Chapter 7: Road to the Elite Four- A New Motive

Edit June 6th: Fixed a portion of Lucario's Free Time Event to better flow with a previous one.

The next morning…

"Come on, Braixen!" Zebstrika called out to me from the sidelines of the racetrack within the Racer Gym. "Keep moving your arms! You're almost there!"

That's easy for you to say! I wanted to scream, but instead, I kept my mouth shut and focused on the finish line.

As was agreed upon last night, we started classes today. Zebstrika, Lucario, Ribombee, Blissey, and even Lycanroc had all agreed to have classes within or around their gyms. At first, I was all for it and excited to learn from pokemon who were essentially masters of their craft. But now… after being forced to run twenty laps…

Yep, I could safely say that I was not cut out to be a racer of any kind.

I stopped running and fell to my knees, too exhausted to continue. Zebstrika trotted over to me, a wide grin on his face. "What's wrong, Braixen?" he asked, not looking even a bit tired despite doing the most running out of us all. "You have to keep going."

"Just…Give…" I could barely finish my sentence. "Rest…"

Zebstrika's wide grin dropped. "Oh… sorry," he mumbled, looking at some of the others who were lagging behind me. "I guess I've been pushing everyone too hard."

"You think?!" Gengar yelled while collapsing onto the ground behind me.

Zebstrika winced. "Sorry," he apologized again. "I guess I've been channeling my father a little too much."

I blinked and looked at him. "Your father?" I echoed, not remembering Zebstrika ever talk about him. He had mentioned his mentor at one point but his father...

"Ah." Zebstrika gave me a startled look. "Right remember the mentor I told you about a couple of days ago?"

I nodded recalling the conversation we had only a few days prior. He had talked about his mentor who had won over three hundred races which were more than Zebstrika had ever won in his life.

"Well my mentor is my father," he continued to explain, looking slightly embarrassed, as my eyes widened. "He was the one who taught me how to run. So…" He gazed around the Racer Gym seeing most of the others start to exit the racetrack and sit down on the grass to take a break. "I guess I was just trying to emulate the way that he taught me."

"Oh," I said quietly. True, the class had been a lot different than I had been expecting from Zebstrika. He had been sterner and pushier during the class, but I hadn't thought to question it too much. "Your training must've tougher than," I said to downplay how strenuous running twenty laps had been.

Zebstrika nervously laughed. "I guess." His expression suddenly turned into a mix of wistfulness and bitterness. "Most of our lessons required me to have a warm-up of fifty laps."

I recoiled. "F-Fifty laps?!"

"Yeah," he confirmed. "He was always… just pushing me to go faster and faster."

I frowned. "Isn't that what racers… do?" I asked uncertainly.

Zebstrika looked surprised before he looked down with a bitter smile. "Yeah… you're right."

I blinked at his strange reaction. Had I said something wrong? I would have to choose my next words carefully…

"Zebstrika," I said slowly, after giving it some thought. "Do you have a problem your mentor… I mean, father?"

Zebstrika winced. "What? No… I mean…" He sighed. "Yeah," he finally admitted. "He was the one who pushed me to be a racer."

"Did you not want to be one?"

His eyes widened. "No, no!" he vehemently denied. "I've always wanted to be one. I've always wanted to be my father. But…" He laughed awkwardly. "Even after all this time… I still haven't managed it. And now that I'm stuck in here…"

I opened my mouth but quickly closed it again, unsure of what to say. I could try to tell him that we would get out of here soon, but with no evidence of it, I didn't really have any way to reassure him. Finally, I gave him a weak smile. "So what do you think I need to improve on?"

Zebstrika brightened. "Well, you see-!"

I ended up spending the rest of the morning running. By the time it was finally lunch, my legs were aching and I could barely stand up. Even worse, is that I had to go to Lucario's gym next.

I was really having second thoughts on these classes.

Xxx

Lunch was uneventful, but it did give me a chance to rest up before Lucario's class. It was a small reprieve just before I delved back into training.

Luckily, Lucario was, in my opinion at least, a better teacher than Zebstrika. That didn't mean his lesson was any more grueling, however. Each of us was split into different groups to do different workouts. I was put with Noivern, Ribombee, and Gengar and asked to do fifty pushups.

An hour in and I had only managed to finish twenty. I wasn't the only one struggling. Noivern had barely managed to do two before giving up, Ribombee was still struggling to do her tenth, but at least Gengar had done a few more than me, but still not a whole lot.

Lucario walked over to us an gave us a disappointed look. He clapped. "Alright!" he called to another group, who consisted of Greninja, Grovyle and Marowak. "Switch exercises!"

The other group got to their task immediately, while our group was sluggish in starting our sit-ups. Noivern just collapsed on her back and lay there, not bothering to move an inch.

Lucario knelt down next to me as I struggled to do my first sit-up. "One," he started counting.

I gave him the dirtiest look I could muster before it fell in favor of one filled with exhaustion.

Lucario noticed it let out a small sigh. "It can only help, Braixen," he insisted. "Mystery Dungeons are dangerous places and you have to be prepared for anything that turns up." He folded his arms. "This sort of training can only help."

I knew he was right, but, in my exhausted state, I didn't like to be lectured to like a small child. "What…" I gasped out. "Have… you… been in a… mystery dungeon before?"

He nodded. "I've told you before about Team Honor," he explained.

Oh, right. I had forgotten. "The rescue team you used to be a part of." I tried to remember more. "Foggy Forest? Did you…" I did another sit up that left me gasping for air before I could continue. "Did you find anything?"

Lucario shook his head. "No nothing was there. All we managed to find was a broken statue of Groudon." He smiled wistfully. "The exploration teams we were with were pretty disappointed."

I gave him a look. "Exploration team?" I asked. "I thought you were a rescue team?" Truth be told I didn't understand the distinction between the two.

He nodded. "We were," he admitted. "We were just hired from a different continent to help out. Afterward, we went back to our original continent and…" He paused suddenly falling silent.

I couldn't understand why he went quiet so fast. "Lucario…" I said carefully. "Is something-?!"

Lucario's face turned stony. At first, I thought he was mad at me before he suddenly jumped to his feet. "Everyone! Get back!" he yelled, holding his arm.

I sat up my eyes wide and my ears picking up some strange sounds. Sounds of creaking metal and moving gears coming from where the lift was.

I tensed up, as I heard the sound stop and the doors open. Everyone around me froze, expecting the worse… as the doors opened up and Porygon floated out looking slightly irritated. He paused, noting everyone's tense expression and narrowed his eyes. "What?" he drawled.

"You-!" Lucario gritted his teeth. "Why did you use the elevator?!"

Porygon gave him a dull look. "I knocked on the two doors and no one answered," he explained. "Both of them were locked so I used the lift to come inside. Is that a problem?"

"Yes!" Lucario snapped. "You're not supposed to use human technology!"

"Technically its mystery dungeon technology," Marowak pointed out.

Lucario scowled. "Still-!"

"Why did you lock the doors then?" Porygon asked.

The sudden question caught Lucario off guard. "Because… I… uh…" He squeezed his eyes closed. "I-I don't like the idea of Monotuff coming inside!" he finally admitted. "He's unnatural."

Porygon gave him an exasperated look. "He can teleport," he pointed out. "I doubt a door can ever stop him from coming inside."

Lucario flinched and looked away, which caused Porygon to sigh. "What group should I be in?" he asked finally. "Assuming that you still want me to participate."

Lucario gritted his teeth. "Group 3." Nearby, Pelipper waved to Porygon as Lucario walked back to me. Porygon watched Lucario go carefully before floating over towards Group 3.

Lucario knelt down next to me and, after giving me a nod, I started my sit-ups again.

I stayed quiet for the rest of the day, as Lucario seemed to be in a bad mood after that. By the time it was dinner, I had staggered over to the dining hall and devoured whatever food was on my plate, before walking back to my room and collapsing face-first onto my bed. I passed out a few seconds later into a dreamless sleep.

Xxx

The next morning…

"Err…" Lycanroc awkwardly scratched his snout, as he faced us. This morning he was supposed to be the teacher of his own very class and, despite volunteering, he was obviously way out of his depth.

Still, I remained attentive, as he pulled a metal shot put ball from behind his back and showed it to all of us. We were all outside of his gym because most of us were unwilling to go back into the room where Zoroark had died (we all just had breakfast an hour ago). Despite Lycanroc obvious reluctance to hold class outside he seemed smart enough to keep quiet and follow the group.

"This is a shot put ball," Lycanroc explained.

"Wonderful," Porygon drawled.

The Ultimate Berserker narrowed his eyes dangerously. "What'd you say?!"

"What are you thinking of doing?" Blissey asked innocently.

"Um… well…" Lycanroc scratched his head. "I didn't really have any plan for this to be perfectly honest," he reluctantly grumbled.

"Of course you don't," Zebstrika sneered.

"Hey!" Lycanroc growled.

"Should we perhaps cancel this class if Lycanroc has no real plan?" Marowak asked the group.

"W-wait a minute..."

"Perhaps." Porygon tilted his head. "I'm not in the mood to entertain someone who didn't have the responsibility to-!"

"Hey!" Lycanroc shouted. "You want to see what I know?!" He wound his right arm back with the shotput ball, getting ready to throw it. "I'll show you, bastard!"

My eyes widened. "Wait, Lycanroc-!" I was too late, as Lycanroc launched the metal ball into the sky. We all watched it sail into the horizon in the direction of the guild. It disappeared behind some trees and soon we heard the sound of breaking glass, similar…

My heart skipped a beat.

Similar to what I heard when Metang murdered Zoroark.

My heart leaped to my throat and I feared the worse, as everyone froze. "My…" Zebstrika let out a strangled gasp. "My gym!" He ran off, leaving only a cloud of dust behind him. After a second of hesitation, everyone else ran after him leaving only me and Lycanroc behind.

"D-dammit!" Lycanroc gritted his teeth. "Why does this always happen to me?!" He began to follow after everyone, leaving me all alone standing in front of the Berserker Gym. After a moment, I swallowed my fear down and ran off towards the Racer Gym.

The others had already made it to the Racer Gym and staring up, where a large swath of the windows had fallen apart. None of them were willing to go inside, in regards to the numerous large shards of glass that littered the field and the inside of the raceway. "You…" Zebstrika gave Lycanroc a murderous look. "What did you do?!"

Lycanroc flinched. "It… It wasn't my fault!"

"Um…" Ribombee tilted her head. "You were the one who threw the shot put ball though."

The berserker recoiled. "That's-!" He growled. "That's because everyone here taunted me."

"We did no such thing," Greninja denied.

"Maybe it was a bad idea to have Lycanroc teach us stuff?" Pelipper muttered under his breath.

"He's just new," Noivern remarked brightly, albeit a little loudly. "He's never been a teacher before! It's a learning process!"

"I have been one before!" Lycanroc snapped.

Grovyle folded his arms. "Then why are you a horrible teacher?" he drawled.

"I taught math and shit," Lycanroc argued. "I've never taught someone how to use my talent. I mean how would I explain it?! 'I get angry and fight good?'"

Grovyle paused as if pondering the statement. "That's fair," he finally admitted.

"Moving on…" Marowak piped up, eyeing the numerous glass shards littered around the field. "I feel like we should clean this mess up. If we leave it here then someone could hurt themselves and the larger glass pieces can definitely be used as a weapon."

Her words caused most of us to look nervous and we all quickly agreed. There was a bit of time dedicated to sorting out who would take what area but soon enough we had all split off into groups of two and I found myself with Lycanroc since no one else wanted to be with him.

Neither did I, but I did feel slightly sorry for him. The entire time, he looked extremely guilty and refused to look Zebstrika in the eye. "Its not your fault," I finally said to him.

"Hm?" He looked at me.

"It's not your fault," I repeated. "I'm sure you were just stressed and that's why you threw the ball."

Lycanroc blinked. "That still sounds like it's my fault, lass," he pointed out with a roll of his eyes.

I flushed. "I'm just trying to be nice," I muttered, turning back to pick up some glass that had gotten caught in a nearby Bush. We fell back into silence for another long while.

"…Thanks."

My head shot up and I turned to Lycanroc surprised. "What?"

"You know what I said," he growled.

I was quiet for a second, before I asked, "You said you were a teacher?"

Lycanroc scratched his head. "Yeah well… not in the traditional sense."

"What do you mean?"

"Uh well…" Lycanroc looked around to check if there was anyone nearby. There wasn't so he leaned in and said in a low voice, "I just taught the kids in my orphanage basic math and stuff." He shrugged. "Nothing special."

I blinked. "You own an orphanage?"

"No," he quickly denied. "I lived there." After a moment passed, he continued, "I was an orphan."

"Oh," I said quietly, unsure of what to say. What could I say to that revelation? Especially to someone like Lycanroc? I was just at a lot of words so I continued to pick up glass shards, as Lycanroc continued to talk.

"I lived in that orphanage for most of my life," he explained. "So when I became and solo explorer, I made sure to send all of my profits back to those kids. Because…" He faltered and looked away. "Well just because."

I felt as though there was more to the story he was telling me, but at the same time, I knew better to press him on the issue. I was already amazed he told me as much as he had. "Lycanroc, why are you telling me this?" I couldn't help but ask.

Lycanroc froze and whipped his head. "You're a fucking idiot you know that?"

I recoiled. "W-what?!"

He looked away. "Congrats," he grunted. "I guess I'll consider you my first acquaintance in this utterly shitty group." He stomped away, leaving me alone and stunned into the clearing.

Did I…

Did I somehow become friends with the last pokemon I ever expected to be one with?

With a strange sense of both dread and hope, I continued to clean up the area with everyone else, only taking a break when Blissey and Ribombee brought lunch up from the dining hall. Soon enough, by the time the sun was started to behind the wall that encircled us, we considered the clean up complete and gathered back in front of the Racer Gym.

Zebstrika gazed mournfully at the large gaping hole within the walls of the coliseum. "My gym…" he moaned sadly.

I patted him on the side. "It's okay. Maybe we can fix it. Or maybe Monotuff can fix it."

He scowled. "I'm not asking that stupid thing for any help whatsoever."

"Ding Dong! Ding Dong!" We all looked up at the sky to hear Monotuff's voice echoing from all around us. "This is an announcement for all guild members!"

"Speak of the devil," Porygon muttered

"Please report to the guild master's room immediately!" Monotuff continued. "I have a new motive ready! One that is sure to finally motive one of you to kill! That is all!" He stopped talking, leaving me with nothing but a sense of dread.

Another motive? Was he going to put our families up for the slaughter again? And if not what could e more motivating than that?

Looking at the others, I could see them having the same thoughts.

Finally, it was Grovyle who shrugged, drawing everyone's attention. "Well…" he said, without a hint of fear within his voice. "It's not going to like us keeping it waiting like this. Let's just go and get this motive over with."

Xxx

We all filed into the guildmaster's office, most of us afraid of what we would find inside. To my surprise, there wasn't another large number or stack of pictures inside. Rather there were three rows of chairs, that I recognized from the Storage Room, all arranged so that they were facing the back wall and Monotuff, who was standing where the guildmaster usually would.

"Sit down! Sit down!" Monotuff nodded rapidly.

We looked at each other in confusion but did as Monotuff demanded. None of us wanted to be the one to disobey it.

I ended up sitting in the front row with Gengar and Pelipper, right in the middle of the row. Behind me sat Marowak and others all sat around me. "So…" Grovyle said carefully. "What's this motive?"

"Ooo!" Monotuff covered its mouth in obvious giddiness. "Excited to get motivate for murder?"

"No," Grovyle replied sharply. "I just wanted to know what I'm getting into."

"Well, this motive is going to be a lot more interactive compared to the last one!" Monotuff said cheerfully, as a monitor extended down from the ceiling. It produced a strange machine from behind its back and gave each of us a strange look before its gaze narrowed on me.

I instinctually stiffened, as it waddled towards me and handed me the machine. I gave it an incredulous look, as Monotuff spread his arms. "A special reward for you, Braixen, for being the lynchpin to solving the previous trial! Congratulations!"

My mouth went dry, as I clutched the machine it had handed me. "W-what?" I could only say.

"It's a video game!" Monotuff exclaimed.

My horror was replaced by confusion. "What's that?" Lucario asked.

"A human entertainment medium!" Monotuff explained.

"H-Human?!" Lucario cried, looking scared.

Marowak looked slightly interested. "I've never heard of such a device," she mused aloud.

The monitor flickered for a second before an image appeared on it. A rather pixelated charizard appeared on the screen, blowing flames out of its mouth. Above it was the words, "Pokémon RED," and right below it were the words, "Press START."

Lucario recoiled. "W-what?"

My stomach sank. "I-I don't…"

"Braixen," Gengar nudged me gently. "Just press the button it's telling you." He gestured to the machine in my hands.

I blinked and looked at the controller a little more closely. There was a cross-shaped button on the left side, while on the right side were two buttons marked with the letters, A and B. In between the two was one other button labeled START. Putting two and two together, I hit the button.

A small chime was heard from the game and, as most of us watched on amazed, the screen swapped to one with a single pixel character wearing a red hat and surrounded by trees. The only way out seemed to be a small path leading up.

"Impressive!" Monotuff complimented. "Now use the cross's up arrow to move forward. You can use A to interact with things and START to pull up the menu."

I nodded to show that I understood. I took a second to think and pressed the START button to pull up the menu. There were only three options: Bag, Pokémon, and Trainer Card. My interest piqued, I picked the Pokémon category and the screen changed to a different one with 16-bit versions of three pokémon that I recognized.

Greninja narrowed her eyes. "Gardevoir, Ekans, and Medicham," she said aloud. "An interesting team."

The Bag category only seemed to contain berries and some miscellaneous items that I didn't recognize the names of. Meanwhile, the Trainer Card contained a portrait of the character that I was playing as, a male human.

"In this game," Monotuff explained, drawing my attention towards him. "You play as a Pokémon Trainer. They are a type of human who enslaves pokémon and has them battle with other pokémon, some wild and others owned by other pokémon trainers."

Lucario looked visibly pained. "That's horrible," he breathed.

I shuddered. Being enslaved and forced to fight against my will… well, that just sounded like the situation that we were in right now. But I couldn't imagine doing that on a whim, just being ordered to by a human. Swallowing, I investigated the card a little more. The human didn't seem to have a name, but they did have eight different badges. The significance of them flew over my head.

I left the menu and looked behind me, silently asking everyone else what I should do. I was a little scared about the idea of moving forward like Monotuff seemed to want.

However, Grovyle just gave me a nod. "Just keep playing, Braixen," he said with a shrug. "Even if you don't do it, Monotuff is just going to get someone else to do it."

Well then, I did secretly want someone else to play, but I just swallowed and moved the character forward through the path in between the trees. They kept walking forward until I reached a crossroad. Again I looked behind me for advice on what to do.

"Just pick a direction and stop stalling," Lycanroc growled.

I gulped and decided to turn right. The character walked for a bit before two things appeared on the screen once he entered a clearing. The first thing I noticed was a large red building with a red roof. Right next to it was another human, this one dressed in a green uniform, complete with a dark green hat.

Remembering what Monotuff said about interacting I steered my character over towards the other human and pressed A. A small square appeared right beneath the two characters with some text.

Ranger: I couldn't save them… They're all gone… If only I could see them in that dark, dark place.

You: Who?

Ranger: The rest of my team! They're all gone! And it's all my fault!

You: Jeez… Get over yourself, loser. No one cares about your problems. I've got my own problems. I've got to get through Victory Road and become champion.

Ranger: …

You: Later, loser!

I nearly dropped the controller and looked around wildly. "I-I didn't say that!" I exclaimed.

Porygon looked curiously at the monitor. "I don't think you did. I think we should see this as some sort of interactive story." He gave me a knowing look. "It's not you who said those words, but the character you're playing as. I guess…" He tilted his head. "whoever this person is, they're just a terrible person."

I gave a nervous nod, before focusing my attention on the building with the red roof. There was a small entrance in the front, so I tried to go through, only for it to open before my character could even go close. Another human came out, this time a female with pink curly hair. She spotted my character and an exclamation point appeared above her head as another text box popped up on the screen.

Nurse: Sorry there's no more room. All of this space is being reserved for pokémon who've been injured in the recent disaster.

You: What about me?

Nurse: You… you'll have to look somewhere else, sir. I'm sorry.

You: Tch. Fuck you.

I flinched at the abrasive language as the nurse bowed and disappeared back into the building behind her. After a second, where no one behind me said anything I continued walking towards the right. Eventually, I came across a gate where a human similar to the ranger, except their uniform was blue, stood in front of what looked like a metal gate. I stopped moving, waiting for anything to happen but nothing did. So instead I pressed A to interact with them.

You: Hey, let me through.

Guard: You must battle me in order to move forward!

You: Fine… let's get this over with.

The screen went black as energetic and fast-paced music began to play. "This is the battle screen," Monotuff explained, as the two humans appeared, each one facing each other. They each threw out a red and white ball and a pokémon appeared on each side. The one closet to me- my character- was a gardevoir and the opponent had a bisharp. I heard someone take a sharp intake of breath the moment the bisharp appeared from behind me. "You have three options. Fight, Pokémon, and Bag. Fight allows you to choose four moves to attack. Pokémon lets you switch between different pokémon. And Bag allows you to use items."

I didn't fully understand whatever Monotuff was explaining, but I was at least able to understand the basics.

It was a battle. A pokémon battle.

Immediately the others began to shout suggestions. Switch pokémon. See if there's a warp orb. Use a seed. Attack.

I picked the last option. Attack.

Four moves. Psychic, Moonblast, Calm Mind, and Magical Leaf.

Greninja hummed. "Psychic moves will be ineffective," she said. "Magical Leaf isn't very ineffective against steel types. The only option here is…"

"Moonblast," I finished, picking the attack. I saw the gardevoir charge up energy from the moon before firing a bright pink beam at the bisharp. The bisharp recoiled from the attack as a bit of the green bar above it disappeared.

"Oh dear, oh dear!" Monotuff giggled. "Looks like it didn't do much damage!"

The bisharp reared itself back as the blade on its head glowed white. The bisharp slammed its head into the gardevoir's chest and the green bar above it disappeared in almost an instant. I heard a weak cry come from the gardevoir as it collapsed.

You: Tch. What a worthless pokémon. Return!

"J-Jeez!" Froslass scowled. "W-What a-an a-asshole!"

The trainer sent out an ekans next. I quickly checked its moves and was disappointed. All of them were poison-type moves meaning that they were all ineffective against the bisharp. I could only pick a random move and watch as the bisharp knocked out the ekans.

You: What a useless partner!

Next was the medicham. I was in luck this time as the medicham had a fighting-type move in High Jump Kick. The others were silent behind me since it was pretty obvious what move I should pick. Swallowing, I hovered over the A button, before finally deciding to have faith that it would hit. I pressed down.

The medicham jumped up high into the air and began to bring her foot down. However, its aim was way off and it ended up slamming into the ground. I could only wince in sympathy as the medicham collapsed onto the ground, the green bar disappeared almost instantly. The screen swapped back to how it was originally as another text box appeared below the two humans.

You: I can't believe I lost! My pokémon are worthless! If only I had better ones! I'll shove them in the box later! Or give them no food! Or just release them into a dump like the trash they are!

Guard: You would do that wouldn't you? You cursed human.

You …

Ribombee blinked. "Cursed human?" she repeated with some confusion.

Guard: Yes. You're the one who nearly caused the world's destruction. You…

The screen went black. Suddenly, a large human face appeared on the screen laughing. HYPER REALISTIC blood began to pour out of his eyes as he screamed, "CURSED HUMAN! CURSED HUMAN!"

I couldn't help it. I let out a tiny scream and dropped the controller, just as the screen slowly faded into black and the human face disappeared.

The others weren't as impressed at the jumpscare. "Was that supposed to scare us?" Marowak asked, patting me on the back, as my face suddenly flushed, embarrassed at my reaction. "It was kinda pathetic."

"Agreed," Porygon said with a nod.

"Well, that was the motive!" Monotuff cheered. "Tell me… are you all motivated to kill yet?"

We all exchanged a look with each other. Noivern raised a wing. "I don't get it," she said.

"Neither do I," Zebstrika admitted.

Monotuff, all of sudden, seemed a little miffed. "Well… whatever!" it huffed. "I thought it was a great time." With those words, it abruptly disappeared.

We all stared at the spot where Monotuff had once been. "What…" Grovyle finally said. "What was all this about? This entire thing… I don't get it."

I opened my mouth but noticed Gengar trembling nearby. "Gengar," I said softly. "Are you okay?" Everyone else turned to face the ghost. He was sweating and his shaking became even more visible once everyone turned his attention towards him.

"I-um…" he stammered out, taking a few steps away from us. "S-Sorry! I-I've got to go!" Before any of us could react, he had dashed out of the guildmaster's room and towards rooms. We all watched him go, each one of us baffled at Gengar's reaction.

Finally, it was Pelipper who said something. It was blunt and to the point, but it was what we were all thinking at that moment.

"What was that all about?"

Not a whole lot happened in this chapter till the end, but I do hope the end was at least worth it! In case you couldn't tell those were this story's of free time events, though I obviously tried to do something different than how they were in the games because I just don't think that part of the game can translate the best into this story. Plus I don't have a lottery system so whatever, I enjoy writing them like this.

But free time events are minor cases when compared to the big one. So tell me how was the motive? Definitely a lot more confusing than the previous one, drawing inspiration from "Twilight Syndrome Murder Case," but mirroring the atypical Pokemon games. I feel like I may have made both the victim and the killer a little too obvious in this case, but regardless I'm still excited to get to the actual murder which will come in the next chapter!

(Also I know. Hyperrealistic blood was just a joke, I found the term funny.)

Reviews and constructive criticism are appreciated!

-Heroi Oscura