There they were again. The dull-colored walls of the corridor interrupted by the orange doors were an interesting contrast, while a bitter feeling was hanging in the air for those visiting the prisoners contained in them.

Ari and Nimb were used to visiting Bismuth Town's jail at this point, but Sanah was not. However, none of the three would have expected to find one of their teammates locked in that place. It was hard to assimilate, after working together for such a long time.

Ari, Nimb and Sanah stared with numbness at the Toxtricity in front of them, one that was trapped behind metal bars, the only one in the team that was old enough to be put in jail, being 18. He looked tired. Defeated.

"Mylo…" Ari started, hesitantly. "How are you feeling?"

Mylo only sat down on the chair next to him, unable to face his teammates. "Well… Here I am. I'm not precisely happy, but this is what I deserve. At least they're putting me here until the trial tomorrow, but I know what the result is going to be either way."

Ari sighed and grabbed Nimb's wing for reassurance. The Archen didn't look much better, considering he was almost crying.

"Tell us, Mylo… What happened? We wanna know the full story," Sanah said. She wasn't on the best of terms with Mylo yet, but she was also sad to see him trapped like that. She could only hope it wasn't as bad as he said.

Mylo sighed. "Okay… It's only fair that I tell you this." He stood up, standing in front of the bars and facing them with an emotionless face. "It all happened five years ago. My parents were in debt with two creditors for things they never told either me or my brother."

That sounded oddly familiar.

"They were a Crabrawler and a Magcargo," Mylo continued. "Their debt was so big, they started threatening my parents. I was tired of seeing that happen, I couldn't do anything and I hated how they were taking advantage of my parents. They were bad pokémon… and I couldn't take that anymore."

"So… what did you do?" Nimb asked.

The Toxtricity took a deep breath. "I took an empowerment seed and ate it."

Ari gasped. "An empowerment seed? Aren't those the ones who make some pokémon mega-evolve? And… they're super rare!"

Mylo nodded. "When I ate it, I felt an immense surge of power, and… that's the last thing I remember. It was too much for me, and I lost control of myself. When I woke up, the creditors had long run away and my parents… They were dead in front of me."

Sanah brought her claw to her mouth in horror. "Oh fuck…"

"Then my brother came out of his room and saw everything… I was so scared that I could only cry and beg for forgiveness. He was so mad, but also as devastated as I was. After dealing with our feelings, I told him I didn't want to go to jail. I asked for his help, and he… covered for me. That was the last time he did something good for me, all that's next is resentment."

Ari shook his head. "That's horrible… But then how did you cover all that?"

"Me and my brother set up an alternate scenario. We made it look like there was an accident with blast seeds. It was the worst thing we ever did… literally exploding their corpses."

Nimb gasped and Ari quickly pulled him closer trying to comfort him. It was too much information. And hearing Mylo talk about it without a single emotion… One could only wonder how much he'd endured to end up like that.

"But Mylo… even if you did that, the actual murder was just an accident! You didn't kill your parents willingly…" Ari said.

Mylo shook his head and went back to his chair. "I did what I did, no matter the intentions. And I've been hiding it for years. I'm a horrible pokémon, and that's probably what made me act this way."

"Like what?" Sanah asked.

"... Obsessed with justice. Always wanting to make sure bad pokémon pay for what they've done. Only because I couldn't forgive myself… And I don't know if I do that as a way to compensate for what I did or because I needed to let my hatred out some way. My self-hatred."

Nimb sniffled. "Mylo…"

"I'm so sorry, Mylo," Ari eventually said with a frown, and everyone turned to him. "This wouldn't have happened if I wasn't so fucking naïve. I don't know what I was expecting, thinking I could just befriend your brother." He closed his eyes and clenched his fists. "I'm hopeless. This is all my fault…"

Everyone jumped as Mylo punched the wall. "Stop that, Ari. You didn't kill my parents. I did."

Ari could only stare; he was at a loss for words, and there was a long silence as the hopelessness sank in. Were they going to accept Mylo's fate just like that?

"Did you really?" Everyone turned to Sanah. "Can you prove it was you?"

Mylo's breath hitched for a moment. "I… What else do I have to prove? I was there. Only me."

"But nobody saw what happened," Ari said, his face lighting up in realization. "We can't be sure it was you who did it! We can… we can investigate it!"

Mylo turned to him and frowned like he was ready to state his disagreement on the matter. However, a new voice stopped him.

"Ari's right."

That caught everyone off guard, and they looked to the other side of the corridor as a certain Scrafty approached them.

"Kyle? What are you doing here?" Nimb asked.

Kyle stopped right beside them and crossed his arms. "I've heard the news, and I thought I might drop by and… help. My mother is going to be the judge in this case, and I know how strict she is, so… I wanna help you guys."

Ari brightened. "Kyle, that's so nice, thank you!"

Nimb also smiled, and Sanah grinned as she spoke. "Yeah, I must admit that's pretty cool."

"Wait, are you really going to do this?" Mylo asked, standing up again and leaning closer to the bars. "This happened years ago, it's not that easy!"

"It's not the first time I've dealt with a mystery from so long ago," Kyle said. "Just accept the help."

Mylo looked at them up and down, and he was met with their unyielding resolve. Were they really willing to do all that just for him? That was… new.

"I guess… I can't convince you otherwise, can I?"

Ari shook his head. "Nope! Now Mylo, would you tell us something else about what happened that day? Why did you have an empowerment seed?"

The Toxtricity stared back for a longer moment until he sighed. "Okay, fine. For some reason, my brother had it. My parents found it in Ryder's room one day and they confiscated it. Only, I… knew where they were keeping it, so I took it."

The investigators exchanged confused looks, while Nimb decided to say what everyone was thinking. "Ryder had it? Isn't that a bit suspicious?"

Kyle nodded. "Honestly, I agree. I didn't trust that guy already, but he definitely has so many red flags around him."

"Then there's no time to waste," Ari concluded. "Let's go ask Maia for our gholdevices. It's time to take action."

A secluded wooden house near the eastern entrance of town stood in front of the group. It looked old, but at least it wasn't as decrepit as Sanah's house, and yet… they both had a similar vibe. It didn't seem like Mylo could afford a better home, especially since his parents weren't there anymore to take care of it.

Sanah could empathize with that. In the end, it seemed that both she and Mylo had a similar situation, but Mylo at least didn't have to take care of a sick relative that needed expensive medicine. Still, how the two brothers had been paying rent those recent years was a mystery. Maybe they had savings?

Without thinking too much about it, Kyle knocked on the door and everyone waited. The tension was palpable; no one wanted to talk to this specific pokémon, but they needed the info. Eventually, the door opened, revealing a certain blue Toxtricity that glared at them.

"What the hell do you want?"

Ari gulped. "We… wanted to ask some questions. About what happened five years ago."

Ryder narrowed his eyes at Ari, looking ready to start a fight. "That's none of your business. Stop meddling if you don't wanna get a beating, I'm really eager to finish what I started yesterday with you."

Ari flinched hard, but Sanah stood in the way and glared at the Toxtricity.

"Don't you dare touch him, you sick!" Sanah threatened.

However, Kyle put a hand on Sanah's shoulder and shook his head. "Let's not make things worse, shall we?" He then looked back at Ryder. "You know, my mother is the judge that's going to handle this case. It'd be wise if you cooperate with us."

Kyle and Ryder were having a battle of wills, even if the former was a bit tense, but he stood stoic at the menacing stare of the Toxtricity. Eventually, Ryder looked away and cursed under his breath.

"You're annoying, you know? Whatever, it's not like I have much to tell you," Ryder said.

Nimb stood quiet. He was definitely not going to intervene in this conversation since he valued his life. Ari wasn't happy with this either, after he tried to open his heart to Ryder and received betrayal.

Sanah, who was closer to the inside of the house, could notice the floor was burned around a pretty big area in the center of the main room, right below a wooden table and a couple of chairs. That looked like the area where they… exploded the blast seeds. There were also other minor burns near the entrance.

"Then let's start with talking about that empowerment seed," Kyle said. "Mylo confirmed you were the one who had it first. What were you planning on doing with it?"

"I didn't plan anything! I just… found it in my room one day, I don't know why. So don't give me that look."

Sanah arched an eyebrow. "You don't… know where it came from?" That was definitely a lie, she thought. But she would save that thought for later.

"And what do you know of those creditors that visited you the day of the incident? What did they want?" Ari asked.

"... It's not like I know." Ryder moved to the drawer near the entrance and opened it, searching inside until he took what looked like a letter and dropped it on the floor next to the group. "This is all we have from them."

Nimb picked up the letter and took the paper from it, opening it for everyone to read. Ari hummed in thought as he examined the contents, his frown getting worse as he kept reading.

"It's just… them asking for money, and threatening to take action if they don't get it. They don't even specify why, this is so vague…" Ari said.

"And you know where they live?" Sanah asked.

Ryder gave them another nasty look and huffed. "I have no idea, it's not like I care anymore. I don't deal with this stuff, that's why we have Indigo to advise us about anything that relates to money."

Kyle perked up. "Did you say… Indigo?"

"Yeah, so what?"

"I know her…" Kyle turned to the group with an amused look. "She might know something about those two! Maybe we could visit her, she was really helpful last time."

Ari, Nimb and Sanah exchanged confused looks, and Sanah spoke. "Well, if you say so… Alright, take us to her. Doesn't look like this guy is going to say anything useful."

Ryder only clicked his tongue and went to close the door. "Then go away already," he said in a dry tone and pushed everyone outside, making the Zangoose mad again. However, she couldn't complain before the door was closed in front of her.

"... Yeah, not much we can do here right now," Ari said.

"That guy… I don't trust him in the slightest," Sanah admitted. "It's like he doesn't want us to investigate this. Isn't that suspicious?"

"Well…" Nimb intervened. "He's a jerk and has been blackmailing Mylo for all these years. It's like he wants to be in control of everything…"

Ari thought about that. Maybe he shouldn't have given that Toxtricity a chance after all. He couldn't stop blaming himself, but this wasn't the right moment to think about it. Instead, he focused on the letter that Nimb was still holding, the one Ryder had forgotten to retrieve.

"Hey, maybe that letter could be useful somehow," the Riolu said.

Sanah arched an eyebrow. "Why? We already know the creditors were a Crabrawler and a Magcargo, it's not like getting fingerprints would give us any new info."

"Maybe not, but… We should keep it, and scan it just in case," Nimb added.

"Well… Okay, if you say so…" Sanah scanned the letter with her GD and then opened her bag, letting Nimb store it inside without questioning it. "There we go. Anyway, so we're visiting that 'Indigo', right? Where is she?"

Kyle started moving. "She's probably working at the bank right now. Follow me."

The bank wasn't too busy at that time of the day, luckily. Ari, Nimb, Sanah and Kyle entered without stopping to take on the sights and went straight to the desk where Indigo was working, guided by Kyle, who had been there before.

Indigo the Hatterene was talking to someone at that moment, a Kadabra it was. They were having a casual conversation, and the team could hear a bit from it before they arrived.

"... that I can help you with that, you know," Kadabra said happily. "If you have trouble sleeping, I can always use my hypnosis on you. You will probably skip breakfast if I do, but it's worth it!"

Indigo rolled her eyes. "I think I'll pass, thank you. Now, if you excuse me, I have clients to attend to."

Kadabra turned around and flinched as he noticed the visitors. Instead of greeting them, he instantly vanished out of thin air, making them jump.

"Huh? Where did he go?" Sanah asked, looking around rapidly.

"Haha, don't worry, he just teleported away. He's… a bit shy with new people," Indigo explained. "Sorry if that came out as a bit rude, I assure you he's nicer than he seems. He's been a close friend of mine for many years now."

Nimb wasn't in the mood to speak with new pokémon once more, so he just stayed quiet without actually hiding and let the rest do the talking while he eyed the Hatterene with curiosity. He couldn't help but notice how beautiful the lady was, despite the weird scar she had on her waist, mostly covered by her long hair.

"I… see," Kyle said with a tilt of his head. "But anyway, we were here for other reasons."

"Well, if it isn't Kyle from Team Riding Star!" Indigo put her hand-shaped bulb up to her chin and smiled. "Last time I saw you, you were investigating something, right? Are you here for the same reason today?"

"You could say so…" Kyle sighed and crossed his arms. "We're always caught in weird murder mysteries from years ago. This time we're here because something happened to our friend Mylo."

She perked up. "Oh, Mylo! I know him, I've been offering my services to his family for years! Once their parents died, I made sure to keep being a trusty consultant to the Toxtricity brothers. Quite an interesting pair, if you ask me."

"You think so?" Ari asked a bit ironically. "Um, anyway, the thing is… we wanted to ask about a Crabrawler and a Magcargo. They were at a crime scene five years ago in Ryder and Mylo's house and we thought you might know them."

Indigo's eyes went a bit wider at the mention of those species. "Oh, you wouldn't be talking about…? Hmmmm, I might know who they are, but I'm not too sure. Also, did you say crime scene? What happened?"

The team exchanged looks as if waiting for someone to explain, and Sanah eventually did.

"Something something, accident, empowerment seed, out of control, murder."

Ari wasn't too sure that was a decent explanation, so he decided to summarize the events to Indigo, including the mention of the upcoming trial. Indigo's frown only kept growing with each detail, but she just listened quietly while the rest grew impatient.

"Oh, Arceus! That sounds horrible…" Indigo covered her mouth. "I suppose that's to be expected, no one should use an empowerment seed without proper training. Who knows if you'll become aggressive after eating one."

"Yeah…" Kyle looked aside with concern, but he then shook his head and looked back at her. "But enough of that. About those two pokémon we mentioned…"

"Oh, right! I don't think I know anything about the Crabrawler, but I might know Magcargo. His name was Ivan. He used to work at the bank in the past, but we never interacted. If you wanna talk to him, he lives in a red stone house at the end of the west area of town, next to a jewelry store."

Ari perked up. "Oh, a lead, nice! I guess that means we should go there and check for ourselves."

Kyle nodded, but he addressed Indigo once more. "Anything else you can tell us? You remember something about them, or about what they were doing to Mylo's family?"

Indigo thought for a long moment, humming as she scratched her chin, but nothing came. "I'm afraid that's all I can say. I might attend Mylo's trial to see what happens, but for now… in case you need anything from me, you should have this!"

She handed them what looked like a business card, and Ari took it. The piece of cardboard had a cutesy picture of Indigo with some text including her name and address, as well as other information about her job.

"Uhhh… Thank you, haha…" Ari said as he smiled sheepishly.

With that, the four investigators left the bank with the objective of finding this Ivan guy, the Magcargo. Ari was a bit nervous about talking with a fire type, after the burn he received from the last one, but he didn't want to be rude. It's not like every fire type was aggressive or evil. Nimb was scared either way, though.

Once again, the investigators found themselves in front of a closed door. The red stone building looked like it was made to host a family of fire types, and it was painted to represent just that. The windows lacked any crystals and were just holes in the wall, likely to vent all the smoke that might be generated in there.

Sanah rang the doorbell and stood aside to wait along with the rest, with Nimb forcing himself not to hide once more. He was making progress with that. Ari patted him on the back while giving him a proud look.

Eventually, the door opened, and a lava snail stared at them with unease.

"What do you want?"

"Uhm… Are you Ivan?" Sanah asked. "We wanted to talk about the incident at the Toxtricity brothers' place five years ago."

The Magcargo rolled his eyes and groaned in annoyance. "Oh for Arceus' sake, not this again! I'm already going to testify in the trial tomorrow, isn't that enough? You kids are playing detectives or what?"

Sanah's eye twitched and she snarled. "Hey, we're real investigators, and we have all the right to interrogate a suspect like you, so you better shut the fu-"

"HEEeeeyy, what my friend here is trying to say is," Ari interrupted, grabbing both of Sanah's shoulders from beside her, "that we just want to clarify some things before the trial, to make things smooth, y'know?"

Ivan the Magcargo eyed him for a long moment until he looked away with a huff. "Well, I don't have much to tell you, I saw nothing! Ricky and I left the house as soon as that kid started wreaking havoc."

"And when did that happen?" Kyle asked.

"Huh? Well, it was at noon. That's when it happened, and we left immediately."

"I see…" Ari said, clearly not seeing.

"I didn't even know their parents died that day, I found out later!" Ivan continued. "And it's not like I stayed there for a long time, I couldn't do that otherwise their house would burn! Don't you see I'm made of literal lava?"

Nimb, still not contributing to the conversation, noted that. He remembered seeing the burns on the floor at Mylo's place, near the entrance. That might have been the Magcargo, but it was weird that they never replaced that floor afterwards. Probably for money reasons.

He then remembered the other pokémon. A Crabrawler, it was? They were with Ivan at the time, but nobody has said anything about them so far. If nobody was going to ask that question, then…

"W-what about the Crabrawler?" Nimb finally asked, curiosity winning over his anxiety. "Are y-you still… working with him?"

"... Huh? No! I haven't worked with anyone in years, I can't even have coworkers because I always burn them! It's always on accident, but I can't be close to anyone that's not a fire type. I haven't seen Ricky since a bit after the incident, so I can't tell you anything about him. Who knows what he's been up to."

"So… You don't know anything about that guy either? Not even where he lives?" Kyle said, and Ivan shook his head. "That's disappointing. I don't know how we're going to talk to him then."

"Well, that's not my problem. See you four in court tomorrow I suppose."

With that, Ivan didn't wait for them to retort since he had already closed the door. The investigators stared at each other with confusion.

"Huh… That went well," Ari said.

"What are we going to do now? No one has said anything useful so far, and we don't even know where that Ricky guy is," Sanah complained, and she received a gentle pat on the shoulder from Ari.

"We could ask Mylo again," Nimb proposed. "We don't even know who his parents were, and he might point out more details that he noticed that day, who knows."

Kyle nodded. "I agree with Nimb. I guess we should head back to the police station and see what else we can learn."

With that, Ari, Nimb, Sanah and Kyle started moving again through the streets of Bismuth Town, reviewing all the info they had so far, even if they weren't able to reach any conclusion yet. Ari took his chance and approached Sanah while Kyle and Nimb were talking on their own.

"Hey, Sanah."

"Hm? What is it?"

Ari rubbed the back of his head. "You know, I'm… still surprised you're trying so hard to help with this investigation. Not too long ago, you and Mylo were almost killing each other, but after Misty Valley, you two have been… cool. I don't know what happened there, but I'm really glad to see you like this."

Sanah shrugged. "Well, you know how it is… Sometimes you just need to be on the verge of death to change your mind I guess?"

Ari chuckled. "Maybe you're right." However, his smile slowly faded away, and Sanah looked at him in concern.

"What's wrong, Ari?"

"Oh, it's just… I'm worried about Mylo. He must have suffered a lot, thinking he was a murderer for so long, and I don't want him to be put in jail! If we fail, then… this little family we had become would go away just like that."

"Little family, huh?" Sanah tilted her head as she pondered that. "... Damn Ari, sometimes you're really corny."

"Heh, sorry…"

Sanah didn't hesitate to wrap her arm around his neck and smirked. "Don't apologize. I think that's kinda cute, always caring for your friends and being there when they need you."

Ari blushed. "W-well, you know, that's exactly what you're doing now. With Mylo, and also… with me."

Sanah realized what he meant and blushed as well, quickly pulling away. "Uhhh… I'm not! You ruined the moment, dumbass!" She then playfully punched him on his arm, and he just laughed.

"Hey, but I'm not wrong! Am I?"

Sanah rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. "Whatever you say, weirdo."

They looked at each other for a long moment, but they couldn't take it anymore and they both started laughing again. They could worry about Mylo once his actual fate was decided. For now, there was still time. And they would make the most out of it.

"Why are you here again? Did you finally give up?" Mylo said, not daring to look at them directly. "I already told you, there's not much you can do."

"Mylo, no matter what you say, we're not giving up on you!" Ari exclaimed, and he inched closer to the jail cell. "Please, you can't give up just yet…"

The Toxtricity locked his gaze on the Riolu for a long moment before looking at the rest. Everyone had the same determined look, and that put a subtle smile on his face.

"Guys… I suppose it can't be helped. What do you need to know, then?"

Nimb brightened. "We wanted to ask about your parents. What can you tell us about them?"

"My… parents, huh." His smile faded, painful memories of that day flowing back once more. But with them, there were other, nicer, memories. The nostalgia was bittersweet. "My mom was a Toxtricity like me, but my dad was a Persian. Their names were Celtia and Pau."

"A Persian… certainly not electricity-resistant," Kyle commented quietly.

Mylo continued. "They were… a bit strict at times. But they cared about us. A lot."

A tear ran down his face, but he quickly wiped it before anyone could comment on that. They had noticed, though, and were now frowning.

"Mylo…" Ari extended his paw like he wanted to support him, but there were bars blocking the way. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, this isn't new," he said and decided to ignore that. "Anyway, they're pretty tough, and they used to train me. I battled them sometimes, I could barely hit them most of the time."

"Then… How are you so sure it was you who did that to them?" Sanah asked.

"An empowerment seed is a completely different thing. I was way stronger with it, so… yeah."

Kyle tilted his head. "But… In what state did you find them once you woke up? Could you tell they died from your attacks?"

Mylo winced at that and looked down. "I… Well, they were covered in bruises, mostly. That's all there was, and it's more than enough to know what happened."

"I don't think that's what Kyle means," Nimb corrected. "All your attacks are either poison or electric type, right? So that means…"

Ari perked up. "Right, their bodies had to have signs of those attacks being used! So, you might have seen burns from the electricity or traces of poison, at least in your dad, who was not a Toxtricity."

Mylo frowned as if he was thinking hard. He slowly narrowed his eyes, trying to remember that day, and it was clear something wasn't right there. "I… don't think I saw anything. It was… just bruises. I have that scene engraved in my mind and I don't recall any burns or poison." His eyes widened back. "Then…?"

"Maybe it wasn't you!" Sanah exclaimed. "Maybe you didn't even fight at all that day."

Mylo shook his head. "But that doesn't make sense, I woke up bruised as well. I always assumed they tried to fight back!"

"Calm down, Mylo," Kyle intervened. "We still have other suspects. Magcargo, Crabrawler, and… Your brother, Ryder."

"And none of them have proven helpful with the investigation," Ari commented as he crossed his arms. "Maybe if I use my aura with any of them without them noticing, I could sense something? Uh…"

"I doubt that's going to work," Sanah said while she rested her claw on his shoulder.

"Okay, so we know both Ivan and Ryder are not helping us investigate and they avoid us, which only makes them more suspicious, even if Ryder would have left burns or poison traces as well," Kyle recounted as he started pacing. "If we could investigate your house, maybe we could find something else that your brother might be hiding."

"Hmmmm…" Mylo looked up to the little window on his cell. It was almost sunset. He looked back at the team and nodded. "Maybe you still have time. Ryder is usually out at this time of the day. There's a spare key buried under the staircase at the entrance. Use that."

Nimb frowned. "You… have another key out there? Isn't that dangerous?"

He shrugged. "No one found it so far."

There was a moment of silence, and then a collective shrug. No one was going to refute that. Too bad the hidden key wasn't going to be a secret anymore.

"Hey, I was thinking…" Kyle eventually said. "You three go ahead, I wanna take my chance and talk to my father, now that we're here. It won't take long."

"Hm? Ah, alright then," Ari said, giving him an empathetic gaze, and then he gently stroked Kyle's shoulder. "Take your time."

The team had to make sure Ryder wasn't home at that moment, so they knocked on the door a couple of times and waited for a bit. There wasn't a single noise inside, so they assumed that was their chance. Nimb went under the wooden staircase and dug around.

"Ari, could you help me? Can you detect the key hidden somewhere down here?" Nimb asked.

"... These are aura feelers, not metal detectors," Ari responded with a deadpan as he pointed to his tassels.

"Oh, never mind! I found it!"

Nimb rose from under the staircase covered in dirt, but with a contemptuous smile as he held a dirty key.

"Great! Come on, let's get inside," Sanah said.

Once in front of the entrance door to hell, Nimb hesitantly inserted the key and turned it. A click followed, and he opened it, getting inside with Ari and Sanah in tow. The place was in the same state as before, which included that big burn on the floor, but at least there was no Ryder this time.

The living room was at least comfy enough, having a big carpet near the table where Ari assumed they sat since they didn't seem to have a couch or cushions. Aside from that and the drawer near the entrance, there was a shelf with some pots on it decorating the area near the window. A corridor on the furthest part led to the other rooms.

"So… What do we do now? We search the whole house?" Sanah asked.

"I guess, but more specifically Ryder's room. He's one of our main suspects," Ari responded as he opened one of the drawers at the entrance and closed it as he only found coins and keys.

Nimb only looked through the window with a bit of unease. "I just hope he doesn't show up…"

"That's why we have to be fast," Sanah said, and she patted Nimb on the back. "Let's separate and check the rooms. If that guy shows up, I'm not going to contain myself."

Nimb gulped. "O-okay…"

"I'll check around here, mostly because… someone has to watch from the entrance in case Ryder comes back," Ari said, and he got a nod from the others, who went further inside.

Once alone, Ari let out a deep sigh and pulled out his Gholdevice, checking the burned part of the floor with the scanner and trying to find any other mark that implied a move was used on it, but he found nothing, obviously. Five years was too much time, it was unlikely to find anything now…

Ari was starting to feel the stress of the situation clouding his mind. The stakes were higher than ever with his friend being charged with murder and it was the first time he was risking so much with an investigation, even if… his own life was in danger when he encountered Armarouge twice in the last couple of investigations.

But before he could think more about it, someone knocked on the door, instantly giving him a mini heart attack. Ari turned to the main door with eyes wide open; he would be sweating a lot if his body allowed so. It was too late to hide, there was no way he-

"It's me, guys." The voice belonged to Kyle.

Ari let out a sigh of relief and approached the door, unlocking it and stepping aside to let the Scrafty inside.

"You scared the shit out of me, Kyle. How did it go?"

Kyle entered and didn't answer at first, going straight for the closest chair and sitting on it, letting his body slump on the table.

"... Nothing was gained." He sighed.

Ari frowned and sat next to him. He supposed he could take a moment to talk about it before going on with the investigation. "What happened? Wanna… talk about it?"

Kyle looked at him and shrugged. "I guess. It's just… I was trying to get some information out of my father, but he keeps hiding stuff from me. I asked about that debt he had since I thought it was really similar to what happened to Mylo's parents. But he won't tell me."

"Damn… I'm sorry to hear that. I don't know why he would hide it from you anymore, it's not like he has anything else to lose, so what's the point?" Ari asked, and then he looked aside, pensive. "Maybe it's something that affects not only him but other people as well?"

"Hmmm… You might be onto something. Maybe he's protecting my mother, who knows. She would be in trouble if something came out and she was involved, knowing her status."

"Maybe he's protecting you."

Kyle blinked. He raised his head to look at him for a long moment but then sighed. "I doubt so. He's never cared that much."

Ari frowned and opened his mouth to retort, but didn't find any argument. He just hesitantly reached out to rest his paw on Kyle's shoulder instead. No one understood his situation better than him, so at least he could offer his support whenever he needed it.

Kyle eventually broke the silence. "How did you get over… you know, all the situation with your parents?"

Ari thought about that for a bit. It was a good question, indeed. "... I didn't."

"You… didn't?"

He shook his head and smiled sadly. "That's a huge part of my life, and it still haunts me from time to time. But… I'm getting better. There are people around who care about me now, and that's helping a lot. But I don't think those memories are even going to completely go away."

"I see..." The Scrafty pawed his bag and pulled his GD, checking the pictures they had collected so far without actually paying much attention to it. He spoke again without looking up. "Honestly? I don't even know how I'm going to adapt."

"What do you mean?"

"My case is kinda different. You didn't have a loving family in the past, but I did have it, or at least it felt like that in the past, but then it changed. Once you know how it feels… it's so hard to ever accept that you won't have it anymore."

Ari frowned at that. He was sure if something ever happened to Nimb he wouldn't get used to not having him by his side. It had been just a couple of months since they met, but he was already one of the best things to ever happen to him. But that was a good reason for him to smile again.

"You know, family doesn't end with just your parents," Ari finally said, and Kyle looked at him. "We're here too, now. Asher, Velia, Cora, Nimb and I, and the rest too. I'd say we're a big family now, right?"

Kyle's eyes softened, and he eyed Ari like he was trying to detect any lies, but he was genuine about it. Ari wanted to be his family, and the rest were probably the same. That filled him with renewed warmth that he didn't know could exist.

However, he suddenly arched a skeptical eyebrow.

"Are you even applying that to yourself?"

Ari's smile twitched. "... Still working on that."

Kyle snorted. "Of course. I guess we both have a long way ahead, but that's fine."

"Yeah…" Ari then stood up, finally ready to return to the investigation. But not before one last thing. "Hey, Kyle. Once all of this is over… would you like to hang out again?"

Hanging out. With his friends. Socializing. Having to go outside, again. And somehow… this time he didn't even think too much about it.

"... Sure."

Ari smiled. "Cool."

Right as Kyle stood up, they could hear Nimb's voice calling from one of the rooms.

"Guuuuys, check this out!"

Ari and Kyle exchanged looks, and they both went inside, as well as Sanah, who popped up from another room. She waved to Kyle before her attention was turned back to the Archen. Once they reunited with Nimb, who happened to be inside Ryder's room, they found he was inspecting a purple book.

"What's that?" Sanah asked.

"I found this hidden under Ryder's bed… Oh, also hi Kyle." Kyle waved back and Nimb continued. "I think it's his diary!"

"Oh? I didn't expect Ryder to be the kind to have a diary," Ari said. "This could be useful, but… are we really going to intrude in his private thoughts like that?"

A long silence came as they eyed each other, expecting someone to retort, but nobody did.

"Yes, we are," Sanah finally said, and she fetched the book from Nimb's grasp, opening it and flipping some pages over to find something interesting. "Some pages in between are blank, this guy just seems to write on random pages, huh. Let's see…"

"Today I had a nerd trying to convince me not to fight another dude, he was acting like he didn't deserve it. I fucking hate whenever they interrupt me with the same pacifist bullshit. And then he tried to make it look like I needed help or whatever. If it wasn't for that annoying Noivern I would have punched him in the face hard."

Everyone looked at Ari. He just coughed loudly, and Sanah kept reading on another page.

"I hate them. I fucking hate them. Why do they always make me look like the bad guy? It's not my fault that they can't take a little harmless teasing. I barely said anything and they were already calling a teacher to scold me. I can't even open my mouth in this stupid academy anymore."

Sanah turned another page.

"I'm so fed up with that scumbag of a brother I have. He always gives me a side eye for whatever I do, like he's judging me. He can go fuck himself, it's not like I care, but I just wish I didn't have to live with him. It's not like I can just kick him out of our own house, but sending him to jail isn't that bad of an idea. I swear if I keep finding the kitchen all messy again I'm gonna consider revealing his little secret."

Nimb frowned. "It's just a bunch of random thoughts. I guess he has a diary just for venting…"

"Mhm. But all those entries seem to be a long time away from each other, so he doesn't write frequently," Kyle commented.

"That means… by the amount of pages there's here, he must have been writing for years now," Ari added.

"Then let's check on the earlier pages," Sanah said, and she flipped some pages until she read out loud.

"Yesterday was awful. I didn't mean to get into that fight, but everyone's the same. They look at me like they've seen some ugly monster, and it just pisses me off. I just want to be normal, but they always make me so angry. Why was I born like this? It feels satisfying to fucking punch them in the face at first, but then I come back home and think back to it and I suddenly feel like trash. I can't help it, it's the same every day. I guess I'm going to be alone for the rest of my life."

There was a long silence as everyone reviewed that.

"... Fuck," Sanah eventually said.

"I kinda feel bad now…" Ari commented. "I knew there has to be something."

"That doesn't mean you should risk your own safety over someone like this," Kyle said. "You can understand it, but not justify it. I don't think we can do anything for him."

"I guess so…"

Sanah interrupted them as she opened one of the earliest pages. "Wait, look at this!"

"It's all done. They're dead, and no one will find out what I did. I managed to make it look like Mylo had done it, using the empowerment seed as an excuse, and as long as they think it was Mylo, I'll just keep this up and everything will be alright. I can finally do whatever I want without my stupid parents around."

"WHAT?" Everyone yelled.

"Okay, I take back what I said," Ari corrected.

"He was the actual murderer? How can he be so fucked up?" Sanah said.

Nimb cringed. "And we're right in the murderer's room… I wanna g-go now."

"Well, I think we have all that we need." Kyle took the diary and stored it in his bag. "This should be the definitive proof."

"I guess, but… There's something about this that doesn't feel right." Ari scratched his chin deep in thought. "I just can't put my finger on it…"

However, his thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the main door opening, and everyone jumped.

"Fuck, we forgot to keep watch!" Sanah said in a hushed voice. "What do we do now?"

Ari looked around, desperately looking for a solution. "Hide! Or… Wait, we're too many and too big, there's no way…"

"I can hear you! Who the fuck is there?"

Everyone froze at the Toxtricity's voice, realizing it was too late. Ryder reached the end of the hallway and stood in front of his room's door with a killer glare. Nimb quickly hid behind Ari.

"Uhhh… Hi," Ari said.

"What the- how did you guys enter?" Ryder was fuming, but at least he bothered to ask before beating anyone up.

"You should choose a different place to hide the key next time," Kyle said, trying to sound calm.

"Are you fucking kidding me? I should call the police right now!"

"I wouldn't do it if I were you," Sanah threatened as she scowled. She moved in front of the group, making Ryder take a step back. "If you're so convinced we're the bad guys here, then you wouldn't mind waiting for the trial tomorrow to expose everything, right?"

Ryder narrowed his eyes. "Is that a challenge?"

"There's no use in fighting here, relax. We're done here anyway, we're leaving," Kyle said. "You won't be able to sue without getting a fine yourself if you fight us now."

The blue Toxtricity glared at the Scrafty, and then at the rest of them. His eyes stopped on the Archen, who just hid further back, trembling. Ryder just gritted his teeth, and moved away from the door, pointing outside.

"Get out of my house right now!"

Ari swallowed but did as told, and Nimb, Kyle and Sanah followed behind. No one wanted unnecessary conflicts; they already had enough. Just as they were about to leave the house, Ryder called out one more time.

"Hey." Everyone turned around, and Ryder smiled in a disturbing way. "See you in court."

The day had come. Many pokémon were attending to find out the fate of the yellow Toxtricity: Asher, Velia, Cora and her family, Maia, Emeric the Noivern, Reko the Grapploct, Nout the Zoroark, Anne the Nidorina, Ivan the Magcargo, Ricky the Crabrawler, Indigo the Hatterene, and of course, Ryder. There were others as well, including the defense lawyer (a Krokorok), the prosecutor (a Servine) and the most important of all: Lishan the Scrafty, the judge.

The trial wasn't going too well, and the Krokorok was desperately searching for something in the court record that he could use to his advantage, to no avail. It seemed Mylo's fate was sealed.

"Your Honor, uhmmm…! My client wasn't in control of his actions, therefore it wasn't a murder, but a mere accident! It would be unfair to give a guilty verdict in this situation."

"Tsk, tsk," the prosecutor intervened. "He was fully responsible for what he did in the moment he ingested that empowerment seed. I think the result should be obvious." The Servine then bowed gracefully, which looked kinda unnecessary.

Lishan was pretty much tired of prolonging the trial, so she slammed down her gavel and called for everyone's attention.

"Alright, I think we all know more than enough about the incident to reach a conclusion. The accused, Mylo the Toxtricity, murdered his parents, Celtia and Pau, in a blind rage caused by an empowerment seed, then proceeded to set up a false accident caused by blast seeds and hid this fact from the law for 5 years."

Mylo, who was sitting in the middle of the court, looked down with a saddened expression, ready to accept his fate. He was sure he deserved it, either way. That was the right thing to do.

The judge continued. "If no one else has anything to say, I will now give my verdict. This court finds the defendant, Mylo the Toxtricity…"

"OBJECTION!"

Everyone turned in surprise to the group that suddenly entered the room. A Riolu, a Zangoose, an Archen, a Scrafty, and… a Reuniclus?

Ari panted and whispered to Nimb's ear. "I've always wanted to yell that."

"What is going on? We were about to finish!" Lishan said.

Kyle stepped forward and cleared his throat. "Mo- I mean, Your Honor, I apologize for our late arrival, but we've come with new information that might shed some light on the incident."

"What?" The prosecutor protested. "You're not lawyers, you can't just show up out of nowhere and interrupt the trial!"

"Silence! Let us hear what they have to say," the judge decided, slamming the gavel down. Servine groaned in annoyance.

Nimb was a nervous wreck with so many pokémon looking, so Ari decided to speak instead.

"As we know, it was an empowerment seed that caused all this. Mylo ate it and lost control of himself, allegedly murdering his parents in the process. However… We have reasons to believe someone provided Mylo with an empowerment seed to use his outburst as a cover for the actual murder."

A collective gasp resonated in the courtroom, and whispers broke everywhere, to which the judge slammed the gavel down again.

"Silence, please! So what you're implying here is that… Mylo didn't kill Celtia and Pau, but someone else did?"

Ari nodded. "That's what I'm saying. Someone tried to frame Mylo as the murderer."

"Preposterous!" Servine replied, with her leafy fists balled. "Do you even have evidence to support that claim?"

"Well, we do know that Ryder was the one who had the empowerment seed first," Sanah continued. "And the fact that his excuse was that 'he found it in his room' out of nowhere made us think he was lying."

Ryder gritted his teeth from where he was standing.

"However," Kyle intervened, "this is a suspiciously similar case to Tamora's murder seven years ago, since the victims are all pokémon who were in high debts. Mylo's parents owed money to Ivan the Magcargo and Ricky the Crabrawler, their creditors, however, we never knew who Fa- I mean, Ebert owed money to."

"You think it's the same two?" The Krokorok lawyer asked.

"Well… we'll get there eventually."

"Objection!" It was the Crabrawler who interrupted the scene. "Even if those two owed us money, that doesn't mean we have reasons to kill them! We literally left the house as soon as things started getting ugly, and it all happened way later, apparently."

The Krokorok decided it was his time to be useful. "Well, if that's the case… Ryder, can you tell us the exact time when you found the scene?"

Ryder frowned. "Uh… it was at noon. I woke up later than usual that day, for some reason."

"And yet, some Magcargo told us they left at noon," Ari said. "A bit weird to think that Ivan and Ricky supposedly left the scene as early as they could, but still managed to leave at the same moment that Ryder woke up and found the battle already over. That is… assuming Ryder is telling the truth."

"You…" Ryder started but decided to not finish that sentence. Ari gulped at that, while Ivan and Ricky tensed.

"However, we found something really interesting in Ryder's room yesterday," Kyle commented, and he pulled out the diary from his bag. "Ryder's diary."

Ryder slammed his hands on the desk. "You fucking…! Where did you find that?"

Kyle ignored that. "In this diary, there's an old entry where Ryder admits his plan all along, which consisted in having Mylo eat the empowerment seed to frame him as the murderer and cover his own actions."

Another collective gasp occurred and the judge had to slam her gavel again before Ryder complained once more.

"Liar! No matter how much you try to keep this going, there's no way you're gonna be able to prove I'm guilty!"

Ari nodded. "And that's fine, because you didn't do it."

At that, Ryder's eyes widened in surprise. "... What?"

The courtroom was getting noisy again, but luckily they all quieted down to hear what the Riolu had to say.

Ari continued. "There's only one pokémon capable of coordinating all of this without getting their hands dirty by involving themselves. Someone that's responsible for a mafia-like system that uses others to get their money by sending hitmons to do all the work."

"A… mafia?" Krokorok asked. "That would explain a lot…"

"Wait, you can't be serious! When did this turn into a mafia case?" Servine complained.

"Silence!" Lishan ordered, looking a bit troubled now. "So… Can you explain yourself?"

Ari looked at Sanah, who started telling her part. "Okay, so… even if Ivan and Ricky happened to be the murderers, they still wouldn't be the ones who orchestrated everything. Ricky had the strength to destroy anyone he wanted with his bare hands, and he's not electric or fire type, which explains why neither of Mylo's parents, one of them being a normal type, had burns or poison marks in their skin, according to Mylo. So Ivan wouldn't have contributed to the fight, it was only Ricky who fought."

"Still, Ricky didn't plan all that by himself. There's someone above him and Ivan who's responsible for all the damage caused, both now and back in the incident where my father was found guilty," Kyle explained, and his gaze slowly turned to another pokémon sitting in the audience. "Isn't that right… Indigo?"

The Hatterene suddenly froze, her eyes losing the innocence that characterized them.

The audience went crazy, many pokémon turning to her and whispering loudly, not believing what was going on in that courtroom.

"ORDER, ORDER!" The judge yelled. "Kyle, you know that's… a very far-fetched claim you're making, right?"

"I know, but we've only just started. Indigo wanted Celtia and Pau dead because they were going to uncover Indigo's schemes to the public, and of course, she wasn't going to allow that. Now the thing is, how do we know Indigo was related to Ivan and Ricky?"

"And for that," Ari continued, "we have a couple reasons. The first is what Ivan told us yesterday. He says that he never works together with anyone since he tends to cause them burns… Just like the one Indigo has under her long hair."

Indigo gasped, and she couldn't notice how Louis the Reuniclus had approached her from behind and suddenly pulled her hair aside to leave the mark visible.

"Just like Nimb told me, this mark here is quite interesting. It's a burn, but it looks quite different from a normal one… just like how it would look if it was caused by lava instead," Louis confirmed, and Indigo quickly pushed him away and covered his burn again with her hair.

Sanah cleared her throat and spoke. "Also, it was kinda weird to find Ryder's diary just laying there under his bed, instead of hiding it a bit better. It was too easy to find. The page on the diary that had the whole confession written was a bit suspicious, and that's because the letters weren't exactly the same. In fact, we felt like we'd seen that specific line pattern before. We sent the page to Louis and…"

Louis took it from there, approaching the group again. "I found the same pattern in both the letter sent by the creditors and in Indigo's business card. They were all written by the same pokémon. Someone who tried to imitate different pokémon's writing styles, but didn't manage to do so entirely. All of them were written by Indigo."

Servine objected desperately. "I object! That was… objectionable!"

"What a bunch of nonsense. Judge, pass the verdict already! That Toxtricity can't go unpunished!" Indigo said, her calm demeanor finally shattering.

However, Lishan hesitated. She didn't say anything, neither did she slam the gavel this time. She just… stood silent, which Team Silver plus Kyle and Louis took as their chance to keep explaining their findings.

"She just needed a way to do all that without being involved in any way, and for that, she needed to be in different places at the same time," Ari explained. "How? Well… That's where one of her oldest allies comes in: a Kadabra."

"A… Kadabra?" Lishan asked, and that got another frown from Indigo.

"Yes. The same one we found in the bank yesterday, that happens to be an old friend of Indigo. A pokémon who knows both hypnosis and teleport. Too convenient, don't you think?"

"It was him who put the empowerment seed in Ryder's room," Sanah said this time. "And it was he who used hypnosis on Ryder to make sure he didn't wake up earlier to see the actual murder happen. He probably put Mylo to sleep as well, since nobody could stop him otherwise. Oh, it was also him who teleported to Ryder's room and stole the diary so Indigo could write the fake confession and then put it in a somewhat visible spot for us to find."

"You mean… it was a set-up?" Mylo finally asked. He was looking more and more hopeful, and at the same time… angry.

"Yeah. That last part only just happened yesterday, knowing we were investigating the case. They wanted to mislead us since we were already suspecting Mylo didn't do it, so, instead, they wanted us to think it was Ryder."

Kyle now looked at the judge, his mother, and spoke in a noticeably angrier tone. "And similarly, it was her who exploded the wall at the graveyard seven years ago and killed Tamora, because she needed a distraction for Father to dig the grave and get the money. He didn't know Indigo was planning on killing Tamora, he was just being used, and you knew! You both have been covering for Indigo for all these years in fear that she might do something to our family."

Lishan was shaking now, even if she wanted to retort. But she didn't.

Kyle continued. "In fact… I went back home last night and searched all I could until I found one of the letters Father received about one of his debts. And guess what?" He eyed Louis.

"Yup, written by the same pokémon," Louis confirmed. "Nobody found her in that crime scene that night because she teleported away thanks to Kadabra."

And there it was, the full truth. Two long-lost mysteries were finally being solved, and they were one step closer to breaking the torturing cycle that had been haunting Bismuth Town for years.

Indigo was mortified. Everyone looked at her, the courtroom was once again in chaos, but Lishan didn't have the courage to yell. Instead, she eventually spoke with a tremor in her voice.

"Do you… have physical evidence to support your claim?"

"Bah, whatever, I did it."

Everyone gasped.

The judge turned to the Hatterene with surprise, but she was in a mix of anger and disinterest.

"If everyone is going to be distrustful of me, there's no use in keeping up with this facade. Yes, I killed them. I killed Tamora, and I ordered Ivan and Ricky to kill Celtia and Pau."

"You're confessing it?" Lishan asked, dumbfounded, and everyone else gasped as well.

Indigo snorted. "Yes. Getting easy money has always been my goal, and if someone were to stop me from doing so… Well, I'd have to eliminate them. Sounds fair, right? Oh well, it's not like you can do anything against it."

"What do you mean?" Mylo asked, now leaving the defendant's chair and looking at her with an angry scowl. "You're not going anywhere now!"

Before the guards could come any closer, Indigo stood up and smirked.

"Unfortunately, yes I am. Byeee!"

Suddenly, a pokémon appeared out of thin air right beside the Hatterene: it was a Kadabra. He took Indigo and vanished, leaving a faint pink glow in place, and the guards stopped in place in shock.

"She teleported away! Damn it!" One of the guards yelled.

"Wait, boss, take us with you too!" Ivan yelled. However, Indigo didn't appear again and the guards were already upon them. "... Oh crud."

Both Ivan and Ricky were caught by the guards and taken into custody, while a ruckus ensued in the audience. Louis approached Ari, Sanah and Nimb and commented near their ears.

"I doubt they're coming back soon; using teleport with other pokémon in tow takes a huge toll on any pokémon, and that Kadabra won't be able to go look for them once they're in those highly protected jail cells."

"T-the jail cells have some kind of psychic barrier preventing anyone from entering with teleport, right?" Nimb asked, and he got a nod from Louis.

Once that was settled, with Indigo gone and Ivan and Ricky taken by the police, Lishan slammed the gavel down once again.

"ORDER! Well, this certainly took a turn… Ahem, with all this new information that was just revealed, and Indigo being proven the true culprit of this crime, I hereby declare the defendant Mylo the Toxtricity…"

"… NOT GUILTY!"

Once outside of the courtroom, in the main hall, celebrations were made. Mylo was released and everyone gathered around him, happy to have the yellow Toxtricity back and free of charge. Almost immediately after Mylo walked towards the group, Ari and Nimb jumped into his arms and enveloped him in a hug.

"Myloooo!" Ari yelled, beaming. "I'm so glad you're free! We've been so worried, you can't imagine…"

"Y-yeah, I knew you weren't a murderer…" Nimb whispered, trying to ignore the overwhelming noise of the crowd awaiting Mylo.

Mylo took a bit to react. He looked like he still wasn't believing what just happened; he had been thinking he was a murderer for five years, and to finally know the truth thanks to his friends… that was completely unexpected. A huge weight was lifted from his chest.

"Guys… Thank you so much. I can't express how happy you've made me. To think you've done all this to save me… Truly, thank you. All of you." He looked at Sanah, who was awkwardly watching from not too close, and she perked up.

Did he… want her to join the group hug? But she was just… That wasn't right, was it?

However, Cora pushed her a bit from behind, dragging her along. "Come on, Sanah! Let's join!"

And so, Cora joined the group hug, and Mylo kept looking at Sanah until she gained the courage to join as well. He smiled at her and nodded, a gesture that Sanah could understand well. She decided it was fine, and she smiled too.

Asher didn't want to miss that, so he grabbed Kyle and Velia and forcefully pulled them into the group hug. Once they were trapped inside, they couldn't escape, no matter how much they complained. But everyone knew they enjoyed it too.

They talked for a while, with many other pokémon like Maia coming to greet Mylo after the emotional rollercoaster that was the last couple of days, and eventually, Team Silver and Team Riding Star were left alone for once, but not before Ryder passed right by them and gave them an unreadable look.

Ari tensed, feeling that gaze piercing him directly, and then he looked at Mylo.

"Hmpf." That's all that Ryder said before he walked away. Surprisingly… he didn't look mad.

That made them curious, and everyone exchanged confused looks.

"So… You found my brother's diary, huh?" Mylo asked.

"Yeah… I know we shouldn't have read that, but in the end, it was decisive evidence," Nimb said.

"I think that made me see him differently, even if I've learned my lesson not to try and help everyone," Ari added as he crossed his arms. "But the thing is… I don't think he enjoys being like that."

Kyle hummed in thought and decided to intervene. "In a way, I think the absence of his parents made him act like that since he no longer had someone to stop him from being mean."

Nimb perked up. "You think he's actually… happy that Mylo can now stop him from bullying others again?"

"Honestly? That might be it. There's nothing stopping Mylo now, and that means Ryder would stop feeling bad now that he wouldn't be able to be a bully so frequently."

Mylo tilted his head in confusion. "Wait, Ryder wants me to stop him? I don't know what to think of that theory, but… I guess I see where you're coming from."

Velia was deep in thought, not paying too much attention to that conversation, something that Asher noticed.

"Hey Velia, what's wrong?" Asher asked.

"Oh, um. I was thinking about Indigo. I'm concerned she might be a problem, knowing she's out there doing who knows what."

"Yeah, even if things might look calm for now, she's a dangerous criminal," Kyle added. "I hope we never have to deal with her again, but who knows…"

The conversation was interrupted once someone else approached them. It was Aimer the Kommo-o, the chief of the police.

"Let's see, you! That Scrafty over there, you've got someone looking for you."

Kyle perked up and arched and looked aside to see who was approaching from behind the Kommo-o, and he saw two other Scraftys. His parents.

"Father!" Kyle ran to meet with the duo, who were… smiling? At him? That was new.

"Hey, Kyle… Your mother has told me everything. You did great," Ebert said, and he laid a hand on his son's shoulder.

"Father, you've been… released?"

Ebert nodded. "Since the murder was committed by Indigo, I'll just have to do community service for the theft of that grave. Nothing I can't handle."

"And I'll have to pay a fine for covering for Indigo, but anyway. Kyle… Thank you," Lishan finally said, and Kyle turned to her. "I'm so sorry for hiding this from you all these years… We were scared that you would be affected by it."

Kyle frowned. For the first time, he let the anger get to him in front of his parents. "But nothing happened! We're fine now, and we could have dealt with this together all this time! Was this the reason why you two changed back then? Because of Indigo?"

Lishan and Ebert exchanged looks, and both frowned.

"Listen, Kyle…" Lishan started. "We're so sorry. We knew that Indigo tends to pick her victims in a… really strange way. Strong emotions annoy her, so she gets obsessed over pokémon that feel too many emotions."

"That's why we were so strict with you," Ebert continued. "Maybe it wasn't going to happen… but we didn't want to risk it. So we tried to keep you always calm and collected so Indigo wouldn't try to do anything to you. She was already using me, so I thought you could have been next…"

Kyle trembled. All of that… for Indigo? After so many years? And somehow, that response didn't satisfy him. It wasn't enough. He clenched his fists and looked away from them with a frown.

"I don't think that's the only reason you treat me like you do, isn't it? You're always… judging me over anything. And I can't deal with that anymore. Is that even going to change?"

A long silence followed, with both parents staring down as they processed everything. It was hard to change something that had lasted for so many years, but that day everything felt… different.

Eventually, Lishan broke the silence. "Honestly, I… I think that belt doesn't look too bad on you."

Kyle's eyes widened, and he finally looked back at them. "You… mean it?"

Lishan nodded, and Ebert was the next to speak. "I'm sorry for everything, Kyle. Today you've proven you're a responsible adult who can take care of himself and choose whatever he feels convenient for himself. We're no one to decide for you."

"Not only that… You're a great investigator, and the best son we could have asked for. Thank you, Kyle," Lishan finished with a smile.

Kyle's throat hitched. He wanted to say something, but he felt he might cry if he did. He felt that couldn't be true, and somehow the moment he showed his emotions, everything would go back to how it was before.

However, he decided he wanted to cry. Tears started welling down his face and he hugged both of his parents. They were surprised by it, not used to something like that and clearly feeling a bit uncomfortable, but they eventually relaxed and decided to hug their son.

It didn't matter anymore, they were a family, and nobody could hurt them now. And if they tried, they'd face the consequences.

The broken family was finally fixed.

Meanwhile, Ari watched with a hint of sadness in his eyes, but luckily for him, nobody noticed.

Mylo, on the other hand, was done with the conversations and had walked outside of the building, being blinded by the sunlight that bathed his renewed soul. He smiled and looked up to the sky, thinking of his parents, who were watching him, somewhere.

"Mom, dad… I can finally be myself again. And once we find Indigo and put her in jail… I hope you can finally rest in peace."

I'm home again. These paintings and sculptures don't feel welcoming to me, but it's not like that matters, since I'm always locked inside that small room of mine. I'm walking away, there's nothing left to do here for now.

I approach the front door… Oh wait, I'm limping a bit. I forgot about what just happened, I have bruises all over me. Luckily, my fur is covering most of it, so nobody has to see that, I think.

I open the door and walk outside in a hurry. I don't wanna be late to reunite with Ren, he might get mad at me again… And he doesn't deserve a lazy teammate! I don't want to disappoint him like I always do.

Suddenly, I jump as I see someone move away from the door in front of me. It's Ren. Oh no. He couldn't have heard…?

"Ren? W-what are you doing here?" I ask nervously.

He eyes me for a long moment, with a look that I hadn't seen before on him. He's not bored, or annoyed, or tired. Is he… troubled?

"Ari, what the…?"

I'm frozen in place. I don't know what to say. Hopefully, he won't comment anything about it, or… wait, what if he thinks I'm too weak for letting something like this happen to me? Oh fuck, he's going to get mad at me. What do I say? He's still looking at me.

Suddenly, he gets closer and looks at me. Well, at my body. No, please… I don't want things to get worse already. However, he grabs my arm and starts walking away with me in tow.

"Come with me, now."

"Wait! Is something wrong? Did… Did I do something wrong? I'm sorry…"

"Quit it!" He yells, but then he winces and speaks quieter. "Just… let's go to my room. Don't say anything."

Okay… I guess I'll just go with him. I hope he's not too mad. We walk through the streets of Iris City, crossing that abandoned park and turning a few times until we reach the imposing building that's Pachirisu's Guild. We go inside without saying a word, it's a tense silence.

Then we reach Ren's room, and he closes the door behind me only to make me sit on his bed. Why here? I thought he didn't want me to touch his bed. Why now?

He then starts searching in one of his drawers, and he pulls out a few things that I recognise to be medical tools. Wait, what?

"Stay still," he says as he approaches me with the medical kit, and then he… starts treating my wounds. I don't get it. This isn't what I expected.

"Why are you doing this?" I ask, with a tremor in my voice.

The Sneasel doesn't respond. He just keeps treating me in silence; seems like he's focused. His face expresses something I'm familiar with, but somehow, it's not exactly the same. He looks angry. But for the way he's being cautious with me… maybe he's not mad at me this time?

But it doesn't make sense. I'm the one who keeps being weak, and I'm the one who's giving him this extra work that he didn't need to do. Why is he helping me? It's not even going to benefit him!

"You don't have to…"

"Shut up," he says, in a calm tone. He then looks right back at me in the eyes. "Who did you tell?"

I tilt my head. "What?"

"About this. This has been happening to you, it's not the first time, right? How many times… did you go through this?"

I take a deep breath. I'm not comfortable talking about this, and I didn't want him to know it. I was already feeling like a dead weight to him, and this is only adding to it. But he already knows more than anyone, so there's no going back.

"... A lot."

Ren's eyes twitch. He doesn't look happy, but… he's not telling me off either. I wonder what's going through his mind.

"You have to tell someone. Like the Guildmaster."

I flinch. "Huh? No, please! I don't want anyone to know…"

"Why?" He asks, now really confused.

"Because… They'd know I'm weak, and… I don't want my parents to get mad. Please…"

He looks at me with widened eyes in disbelief. But still, not mad. I never thought I'd see him like this, but I guess he also never thought he'd see me like this either. I haven't been honest with him all this time.

He looks down and I swear I can hear him say something under his breath. Something like 'I get everything now'. But he then shakes his head and looks back at me, going back to treating my wounds.

"I won't tell anyone, for now. But from now on, you'll tell me everything. Whenever this happens again, you gotta tell me. Okay?"

I'm really surprised by this. Honestly, I don't even know what to say. I expected a different reaction from him, but he's concerned about me. And the fact that he's not forcing me to tell anyone else… I appreciate that.

I wonder if he just sees me as a pathetic Riolu who can't take care of himself and gets beaten up on a daily basis. I wonder if he's pitying me, and he has no respect for me. That's what I deserve, after all.

But the way he's looking at me… Why do I feel like it's the other way around? That he actually sees me as someone stronger than what he had considered so far?

"Okay."

Of course Mylo isn't a murderer, what were you thinking? Anyway, this chapter's title is a reference to a fic called Penance of the Guilty, by W1ndyd4y! Go check it out! Also, huge thanks to my friend Uxie for proofreading this chapter, since Random wasn't available this time.

Next time: Sanah goes to therapy and Terrel goes on a date. Should it be the other way around?