Crick. Snap. Crack.

Andrew lethargically strolled over a trail of dead twigs, which crumbled and snapped under his feet. He ducked and trudged through the foliage as he made his way to Grandeport Castle.

The weather was pleasant; it was surprisingly warm for a winter day, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. He didn't even need his cloak to maintain his body temperature.

Beads of sunlight poured through the trees and made bright yellow spots on the forest floor, beckoning Andrew forward. Nothing was out of the ordinary. Nothing was out of the ordinary.

" Just a normal, happy, early-morning walk to the castle," the Marshtomp murmured, trying to convince himself of the idea.

You killed her! What have you done, Andrew?! yelled a voice in his mind, however.

"I-It's fine," he stammered. "Nothing happened. There was a bit of a mix-up—maybe a bit of yelling—from both of us! But it's fine. Chloe's fine, she can fend for herself."

You delusional idiot. She's dead, you pushed her out of a GODDAMN WINDOW!

"Would you shut UP?!" Andrew yelled, clasping his gills with his flippers.

The shout echoed through the woods, disrupting the otherwise serene atmosphere.

Once his voice faded, however, the woods were perfectly quiet, as though nature itself had cultivated its own peace.

Nothing was out of the ordinary. The world felt the same as it had the day before, and his surroundings looked the same. Nothing was out of the ordinary.

"Why do I feel so bad? I didn't mean to hurt her, I just wanted to… to…"

To make her suffer? Did you want her to feel the same pain that you did at that moment? Or have you always wanted to kill her, hm? his mind interrogated, denying his request.

"No! It wasn't like that. It just sort of… happened," he sighed. "She was there one moment, gone the next. What could I have done about it? It was out of my hands, and that's something I'll have to come to terms with."

The foliage began to thin. The trees grew shorter, skinnier, and eventually disappeared altogether to reveal a large clearing. Well-cut fields surrounded the menacing, gargantuan structure that was Grandeport Castle. From the angle he approached, he saw its spires towered far into the sky, easily surpassing any other building Andrew had encountered in the city.

But despite the Marshtomp having made the same trek most days, something about it felt off. Did the castle get bigger? Are the stones darker? …Was that window always broken?

Andrew stopped in his tracks. He narrowed his eyes at a window a few stories up from the giant front doors. However, upon closer inspection, the window was not broken. It was perfectly normal. Nothing was out of the ordinary.

"There's no reason that window would be broken, anyways. My office doesn't face the front of the castle," Andrew said to himself. "Just my dumb Marshtomp eyes playing tricks on me."

Having dispelled the harrowing sight of the window—at least for the time being—Andrew continued toward the castle. Still, something didn't feel right. He felt a strange sensation creep down his back. His legs were stiff, and his flippers trembled slightly. The sun was just a bit too bright.

And everything was so quiet.

That's when it hit him, a lightbulb going off in his mind. "Why is everything so quiet? It's too quiet! I know the forests here are quiet because Pokemon live in the city, but something's not right! This isn't right! The hell's the big deal, did someone die or something?"

He smiled at his own joke.

But it was not a genuine smile. Andrew knew it was an expression woven with guilt and anxiety, the muscles of his lips forced upward by a pain in the back of his mind. His remorse was trying to hide itself from the world. Though he knew this, that did not stop him from wearing it all the way to the castle's entrance.

He nodded to the guards, grinning like the deluded idiot he was. The Vulpix leaped upwards and shot a fireball into the air, causing the large doors to come to life. They let out a low groan as they slowly swung open for Andrew to enter.

The main foyer was desolate, as per usual. Nothing was out of the ordinary. The only notable thing was a Meowstic with a young Espurr walking along the edge of the room—though they soon disappeared into a hallway.

Andrew's pulse quickened. His steps grew slower as he grew closer to the staircase, as though some invisible trying to keep him from climbing up.

The Marshtomp struggled up the stairs. Despite their large size relative to him, he had grown used to climbing them and had done so with relative ease a day prior. But all that progress had been erased. With each new step, Andrew endeavored, gasping for air. He was barely able to make it to the top without fainting.

Finally, he trudged down the hallway to his office, utterly exhausted.

Upon lazily pushing the door open and entering, he noticed that it was… colder than usual.

His gaze turned to the large window behind his desk—or rather the large hole in the wall where a window once was. He shuddered as a frigid gust blew in and over him, freezing his nerves.

The scene of Chloe falling played again in his mind… the Flaaffy smashing into the glass with a horrifying crash, her body sliced all over by glass shards as she descended out of the office, more and more parts of her falling out of view until she was simply gone.

And then with a simple, dull thud, she was gone forever.

Murderer!

"I didn't mean it!" Andrew yelled, grasping his head. "And… it doesn't matter much anyway! She probably just—I don't know—walked it off. She's tough."

She's tough, repeated in his mind in a desperate attempt to reassure himself. Tough enough to brush off a several-story fall. Yep, definitely. She's tough.

Andrew took a deep breath, feeling the morning air flood his nostrils and channel down into his lungs. Slowly he began to walk to the window. The floorboards creaked and the wind howled. It only took about ten seconds to reach the window—though to him it was a a long, grueling hour-long journey.

He gulped, then looked down at the greenery below.

Where he expected to see the mangled, rotting corpse of Chloe, Andrew was instead met with… nothing. The grass below his office looked completely normal, faded slightly from the winter's cold grasp but still neatly kept. Nothing was out of the ordinary… until he laid his eyes on a patch of red staining the ground.

Patches of red? That could be anything! It could be a bunch of crushed berries, or maybe some tomato sauce. Hell, maybe it's just ketchup. But if Chloe's body isn't there…

Even more fear ran through his being as a chilling realization dawned on him.

"Dead bodies don't just disappear. At least, I don't think they do."

Andrew let out a relenting sigh. He plopped himself down into his office chair and leaned back in it, shutting his eyes and trying to picture a peaceful image.

"Let's see, it's a meadow, yeah, a large, peaceful meadow."

Sure enough, the image of a vast, green meadow appeared in his mind, so vivid he could almost really feel it. The grass was long but trimmed. Large wildflowers dotted up in various places to create a perfect, completely idyllic scene.

A graceful, white sheep trotted onto the field. It let out a joyful bleat. Then, it leaned its head down to take a bite from the grass. It was a peaceful scene. Nothing was out of the ordinary.

…Until without warning, the sheep was replaced by Chloe. She leaned forward like the sheep—presumably to eat the grass—but instantly fell to the ground, face first. Her body quickly warped and twisted, degrading into the bruised, broken, dilapidated corpse Andrew had seen the night before.

Chloe's dislocated, mangled arm pushed up her rotting body. Her neck was no longer limited in how far it could turn; she twisted to face Andrew, bones cracking and joints popping. The remnants of her face stared at him. The Flaafy bore a horrified stare, her eyes bloodshot and her mouth agape in shock, exposing broken teeth.

"Wh-Why?" she croaked in agony, the anguish of betrayal in her voice. "Why d-did you do this? Did I deserve this, Andrew? It was you, wasn't it? The one who decided my fate? Did I deserve this? Did you intend for this–? "

Andrew's eyes flew open.

He let out a loud, sudden gasp, his chest heaving. The Marshtomp tightly gripped the armrests of his office chair, which he forced himself to release. The woven patterns of the fabric had become imprinted into his flippers.

"I can't live like this. It's not fair!" he yelled, panting.

The only response he got was from the wind, which continued to berate him with its howls.

You know, Andrew, I've been doing a lot of thinking lately, his mind finally replied.

"Really? You have?" Andrew questioned. "Because it sure doesn't seem like it. Everything keeps going wrong, and instead of helping me, you just berate me all day because apparently I'm not allowed to just rest in peace!"

Well, at least Chloe can, now, it is teased.

"Yeah, you're real funny."

After a moment of sitting, the inner voice of his mind going quiet, Andrew stood up and began to pace around his desk. Circle after circle after circle, after circle, he kept walking in the same monotonous pattern.

"I didn't kill her! She's not dead, it's all goddamn… It's bullshit!" he muttered frantically. "My mind was playing TRICKS on me, she's not gone, she's fine!"

He stopped in place, before taking in a loud, deep breath, filling his lungs to their brim with air.

"I DIDN'T KILL HER! SHUUUUT UP!" he screamed at the top of his lungs.

The Marshtomp scampered over to one of the tall bookshelves against the walls. He wrapped one flipper around its outside and grabbed the base of one of the shelves with the other. Andrew yanked his whole body backward, causing the bookshelf to lurch toward him.

"Chloe's alive!" he yelled maniacally. "She's aliiiiiiive!"

Right before the bookshelf could fall on him, however, Andrew stopped and held it up in place. He stared at it. Finally, he pushed the bookshelf back into its normal position and ran over to an exposed part of the wall. The Marshtomp wound back his arm, balled his fist, and began punching it.

He screamed as he did so, spittle flying from his mouth and his face bright red.

His strikes made no dents in the wall. Pain coursed through his flippers each time they made contact with hard, sturdy plaster. After several moments, his throat began to burn from all the energy he was using, forcing the Marshtomp into a coughing fit.

He stopped punching the wall, wheezed, and lowered himself onto the floor.

"She's alive…" he tried to convince himself, barely managing a coarse whisper due to his exhaustion. "She has to be…"

Andrew lost track of how long he had been on the floor. His mind was a jumbled mess of voices. Some of them reassured him.

Don't panic! Sure, Chloe might be a little angry that you pushed her, but at least she's not dead. She got up and walked away, calm down.

Others berated him, sparing no insult.

You horrible, evil monster! You're a murderer and you deserve to rot in prison. If they kill you, you'll deserve it, you deserve to die a million times over you asshole!

After what felt like an eternity of his inner voices battling, suddenly a familiar female, strict, voice appeared in his head.

"Andrew, come to the meeting room. Right now. Don't make me send guards, because I will if you aren't here in fifteen minutes," commanded the voice, which he recognized as Felicia's.

Andrew looked around. The Lucario was not in the room, but he could hear the message loud and clear, just not through his ears—or gills.

Must be one of those stupid psychic message things that Jason does. Though I never thought Lucarios had psychic abilities.

The Marshtomp groaned. After reluctantly getting up, he trudged out of the office and down the hall toward the meeting room.

His steps were slow and tentative. The Marshtomp's distressed mind swirled with the possible outcomes of the upcoming meeting. There's no way they're going to understand. I bet they don't even want to hear my side of the story! Bunch of stupid idiots, somehow they're going to paint me as being the bad guy just because she died from a slight fall. I didn't kill her. Gravity killed Chloe, go flip out at gravity, Felicia!

There was no scenario Andrew could imagine that did not end with Felicia killing him for the entire council to see. Larry would make a snide remark, and Eugene would let out a disinterested grunt. Charlie might voice mild opposition but would quickly relent, all while watching Felicia parade around the room with the Marshtomp's severed head. 'This is what I do to killers,' he imagined her saying.

Andrew's pace only grew slower. He was only delaying the inevitable. Still, he remembered Felicia's warning. The Marshtomp forced his legs to move at their normal speed even with the weight of Chloe's murder weighing him down.

I can't even keep… you didn't kill her. NO! You killed her! Chloe Flaaffy is dead because you pushed her out of a window, and now you have to bear the consequences. You brought this on yourself!

"She made me do it. It was self-defense."

I'm sure they're going to believe that one, his mind jeered.

As the thought ran through his brain, Andrew swore he could hear laughter from behind. It was from a high-pitched, feminine voice, hysterically laughing as if she had heard the funniest joke known to Pokemon kind.

Andrew turned around.

Nobody was there.

Eventually, he reached the council room's door. He could hear the muffled voices of the council members, primarily Felicia's, with the occasional interruption from Charlie or Larry. Everything seemed normal. Their tones were boring, milquetoast, and sterile. Still, Andrew shuddered as he twisted the handle and opened the door.

Immediately the room fell silent.

Now that's a first…

Felicia shot Andrew a death-cold stare. Her eyes were aglow with fury. Her lips curled down in a scowl, exposing her razor-sharp, canine teeth. Larry also scowled at him like usual. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary with him. However, Eugene also shot Andrew an icy stare. His mouth was shut, hiding the monstrous teeth that the Marshtomp knew the creature had. But it was still the first time Andrew could recall the Tyrantrum bearing an expression straight at him.

Finally, there was Charlie. Andrew was unable to see the Raichu's expression as Charlie turned away to shield his face. All he could see was the back of the electric type's head and his drooping, crescent-shaped ears.

"Shut the door, Andrew," demanded Felicia.

Andrew did not dare disobey, gulping before carefully closing the door behind him.

The Lucario got up from her seat, standing tall and looking down menacingly over Andrew. He could feel the enraged energy emanating from her aura, his heart sinking.

"The patrol found something yesterday. Or rather… someone. Do you know anything about this, Andrew?"

"Um," the Marshtomp uttered, his mind racing. I can't just say I don't know anything because they already know I did it and want to kill me. But I can't say that I did do it or they'll kill me. "You're going to have to be a little more specific. I mean—the patrol probably finds lots of Pokemon wandering around the castle. Also, since when do we have a patrol?"

Felicia humphed. "It's a yes or no question."

"Then no, I guess," Andrew said nonchalantly, feigning boredom while his heart began to pound.

The Lucario raised her brow. "Oh, really? I guess I should inform you about the victim then, considering that she fell out of your office window. You might have known her. Chloe Flaaffy, officially known as the Minister of Transportation, despite never doing that much in terms of building new roads or ports."

Andrew shrugged. "The government works in mysterious ways."

"I suppose it does," said Felicia, taking a step toward Andrew, who was still frozen by the door. "The reason I find this interesting, though, is that Chloe is the only official you ever appointed. Not only that, but you and her—at least according to my source–"

She suddenly elbowed Charlie's back. The Raichu only let out a grunt, still not turning to face Andrew.

Felicia rolled her eyes. "...You and her had frequent meetings. Chloe never showed up to any cabinet meetings, she only met with you, to my knowledge."

Andrew let out a nervous laugh. "Well, y'know, Chloe's always been a bit of a strange–"

"Was," Felicia interrupted, the word spoken with deadly coldness, matching her scowl.

"Character," said Andrew, resisting the urge to shudder from a chill running down his back. "But we met a lot to discuss uh transportation stuff. Like… bridges. We talked a lot about bridges. She was going to have a lot of bridges built."

Larry scoffed. "I didn't know you had it in you, Marshtomp. You never seemed like the defenestrating type to me–"

"Shut up, Larry!" barked Felicia. "No stupid quips! None of it! This is serious and we need to figure out what on earth happened last night. If you can't act like an adult Lawrence, then get the fuck out of my meeting room."

Larry narrowed his eyes but gave no further response.

She turned back to the Marshtomp. "We aren't assuming anyone's guilt, Andrew. All I would like to know is… where were you yesterday around five thirty?"

"Five thirty? I was probably still asleep. Thomas doesn't usually—I don't usually wake myself up until eight or nine," the Marshtomp explained, blushing slightly from embarrassment.

Larry sighed. "Five thirty in the evening, you idiot."

"Oh, in the evening? Well, I was… walking home. With all these mystery dungeons I have to avoid the main square, so I'm leaving a bit earlier to save until that whole mess is resolved,' Andrew said with a quickly-summoned air of confidence.

Felicia nodded. "Hm. Not an impossible alibi… But I don't believe you."

"What?!" he exclaimed, feigning shock. "Why not?"

The Lucario held out a paw and closed her eyes. "I'm not good enough with sensing auras to know for sure if you're lying. But I can get a broad sense of how you are feeling, Andrew. Tell me, how are you feeling right now?"

"Angry that you're accusing me of killing Chloe!"

"I see a bit of anger," Felicia muttered. "It's mostly stress that I'm seeing, though. I'm not sure how you aren't having a panic attack right now, actually. I don't think I've ever seen this much stress weighing on a Pokemon before. You are worried about something."

Andrew stomped. "Maybe I'm stressed because you're accusing me of murder!"

"You came into this room stressed. I saw your aura through the wall, it was the same as it was now. You supposedly didn't know about Chloe's murder until I told you. You would have had no reason to be so stressed coming to this meeting," Felicia explained matter-of-factly.

Andrew growled, his chest rising and falling rapidly. "Murder, murder, murder! You keep using that stupid word! How do you know Chloe died from a murder? Maybe she was looking for me in my office and tripped?! Hell, maybe she threw herself out of the window!"

"Those are not the words of an innocent Pokemon, Marshtomp," Eugene grumbled.

Andrew rolled his eyes. "God. Why is everyone always so dramatic?"

"Sit. Down," Felicia ordered, motioning to the chair at the end of the table before sitting back down herself. "You are trying to distract from the situation at hand with semantics. That's another strike against you."

Andrew stared down at the table. "I… don't know what you're talking about."

"Sure you don't!" Felicia said before bursting out laughing.

The Marshtomp's heart was racing so fast it hammered against his ribcage, creating an intense discomfort in his chest. "I cared about Chloe! She worked for me, the only person in this goddamn place who actually did what I asked. Why would I kill her?"

"That's the million Poke question, isn't it?" the Lucario asked, wiping a tear from her eye as she suppressed a hysterical smile. She turned to Larry. "Are you willing to go into his mind and figure out what he thinks happened?"

Larry perked up and nodded. "I suppose I can. But I'll warn you, it's been a while since I've done anything like that."

"It doesn't matter. Make yourself useful for once," Felicia commanded.

Andrew's eyes widened upon registering what the Lucario was saying. Holy shit holy shit they're going to do psychic bullshit to my mind. No no no no they're going to probe my brain and probably fry it!

"You can't just go into my mind! That's not fair! You're not allowed to, my brain, my rules," he protested.

Larry stood up and strode over to Andrew. "Look, Marshtomp. You can either let me in, or I can force my way in. Either way, I'm going to get into your head and see what happened last night. If you really are innocent, then surely you'd have no problem with me taking a quick peek. Right?"

"Fuck. Off."

The Gallade shrugged. "Hard way it is, I suppose."

Larry shut his eyes. Slowly, he raised his hand and pressed it against Andrew's forehead. His hand was deathly cold, causing Andrew to grimace and instinctively pull away.

"Stay still!" Larry humphed, reaching behind Andrew's head with his free hand to push it back into his hand.

The Marshtomp relented, allowing the Gallade to touch him. There was a tingling sensation where Larry had placed his hand.

I'm gonna kill you I'm gonna kill you I'm gonna rip your goddamn head off, Larry.

The two remained still for about a minute until Larry let out a shrill yell.

"Goddamnit!"

Felicia raised her brow.

The Gallade jolted backward, tripping over his feet and falling to the floor with a thud. Andrew looked down at him with an awkward smile.

Larry humphed, pushing himself back up and marching over to Felicia. "I am not dealing with that!"

"What do you mean?" she pressed, frowning.

"That… that mind, if you can call it that," he stammered. "Not all minds are safe to traverse, Felicia. That is not a stable mind. If I go poking around in there too much, I could end up a vegetable. Or even worse!" Larry pointed at Andrew. "I could end up like him!"

Andrew chuckled nervously, tugging at his bowtie. "Well, you know how it is. I'm full of surprises."

"Yes, we're aware," grumbled Felicia before turning back to Larry. "You're acting like a hatchling. If you're unwilling to take a necessary risk to achieve vital information, Lawrence, then I see no need for your presence in this meeting."

"I'm not going back in there. The world's best psychic couldn't find a memory from ten minutes ago inside that wretched brain."

The Lucario pointed to the door. "It's your choice, then. Leave."

Larry narrowed his eyes and let out one last humph. He strode over to the door and opened it, muttering. He spat out only one phrase Andrew could make out.

"His stupid brain just landed me in therapy."

After he left, Felicia slumped over on the table, resting her head in her paws. "Oh Arceus, Arceus, Arceus…"

"So, can we finally clear this whole mess up?" Andrew asked nonchalantly. "Because I'm getting kind of hungry, and if I eat lunch late then I have to eat dinner later and it becomes this whole thing… it'd just be nice to avoid that with everything going on."

Felicia sat up straight, a surprised look coming over her snout. "You just murdered somebody in cold blood, Andrew. But all you can think about is lunch?"

After having sat idly since the beginning of the meeting, Charlie finally faced the Marshtomp. However, where Andrew had expected an agonized expression—one of pain and betrayal—was instead one of annoyance and exhaustion.

Charlie let out a sigh reeking of disappointment. "You're never going to get a confession out of him, Felicia. But who cares? He's the only one in this entire building who interacted with Chloe regularly. She got pushed out of a window in his office. He obviously killed her. Any common idiot could deduce what happened."

"That is a baseless accusation!" Andrew yelled back.

Charlie dismissively waved his paw at the Marshtomp. "Give me a fucking break. Keeping up this lie is just going to make things worse for you. Maybe if you drop it we'll lighten your prison sentence."

Andrew's heart skipped a beat. His face went pale as his calm act began to unravel. What did he just say? I'm not going to jail, I'm too young, old, rich, poor, strong, and scrawny to go to jail!

"N-Now hold on a s-second," Andrew stuttered, his voice panicked and shaky to his voice. "Chloe was killed by some unknown evil person who must have really hated Flaaffies. But in this purely hypothetical situation in which I am that Pokemon, I don't think the big house is really necessary. I learned my lesson!"

"You admit to killing her?" Eugene grumbled.

"I didn't say that! I said learned my lesson in this hypothetical scenario!"

"You totally killed her," Charlie remarked.

Felicia slammed her fist on the table. "All of you! Shut up!"

The room fell silent. In the ensuing pause, Charlie and Andrew exchanged death glares.

I'm going to kill him before he kills me, then we'll see who's laughing, the Marshtomp mused.

Felicia stood back up and began to pace around the table. "The current situation keeps somehow getting worse. And all this time I've been rushing to fix every problem as it pops up—bandage solutions—if you will, in an attempt to keep this place afloat."

She paused, crossed her arms, and focused on Andrew. "But I've realized that I'm going about this the wrong way. To fix the problems, I have to address the root cause. You are the root cause of the problem, Andrew. Your presidency was a mistake."

The Marshtomp rolled his eyes. "Whatever you say, Felicia."

"Don't talk to me like that!" she snapped. She marched up to him, causing the Marshtomp to lurch back. "While you've been playing president—taking home a big fat paycheck, residing in the castle all day, becoming privy to important government meetings, and throwing innocent Pokemon out of windows—I've been the one cleaning your messes."

Andrew scowled, his breathing becoming more strained. A powerful, primal anger began to build within him. "I've been…"

He tried to find the words to explain himself, but for the first time that day, the voice in his mind went silent. "I've been… amazing! If it weren't for me that stupid fox would still be king. You owe everything to me!"

"How dare you!" Felicia cried, a look of utter disgust on her face.

Andrew stood up in his seat, his eyeline rising above the Lucario's. "Don't like the truth, huh? All of the power you've gained from Mirage kicking the can was thanks to me! I let you play president while I get all the blame whenever Pokemon get pissed! You just hide away like a goddamn coward and then bitch when I don't do your bidding."

Felicia growled. "Watch. Your. Tongue."

"So, you know what? Who the fuck cares if I shoved Chloe out of a window?!" he shouted. " I've earned the right to kill! Because if it weren't for me, Mirage would have put your sorry little head on a pike. I can take whoever's life I want because I saved yours, Felicia."

"You admit to killing her?" Eugene questioned again.

He pointed at the Tyrantrum. "I didn't say I killed Chloe! That was purely hypothetical."

With an unexpected swiftness, the Lucario extended her arm and grabbed Andrew by his bowtie, pulling him from his chair and dangling the poor amphibian in midair. "I've had it with your insolence! I've given you countless opportunities to reign yourself in, and each time you've refused."

She shoved him back into his chair, Andrew grunting as his bottom slammed into the old wooden surface.

"You've chosen the perfect time to do this, haven't you?" Felicia let out an incredulous laugh. "We're in the largest crisis this nation has seen in years, and you chose to push a minister out the window! I should kill you, Marshtomp!"

Andrew took a deep breath in. His cheeks puffed out before he threw his head forward. He spat a small ball of mud, which flew straight in Felicia's face. "Not if I kill you first!"

She froze. The muck dripped down her snout, falling to the floor. Andrew couldn't tell if she stood still from sheer, primal shock, or from awe at his audacity.

Regardless, it only took a moment for her eyes to light with flames. Felicia wiped the substance from her face and wound her paw back.

"Are we really doing this? You're not going to win this fight," she said solemnly.

Before the situation could escalate any further, Charlie leaped from his seat and ran as fast as his legs would allow. He skidded to a halt between the two fighting Pokemon.

He outstretched his arms but only managed to push back Andrew. Electricity crackled across his body. "What are you doing, Andrew?!"

"Oh, so when you kill people it's okay. But when I try to kill somebody it's a problem?!" the Marshtomp shouted. "You're crazy!"

Charlie rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I'm the crazy one here. Like you were going to kill Felicia by hurling mud in her face."

"Mud is very deadly!"

Blue flames enveloped Felicia's paws. "I am going to kill both of you if you don't shut your mouths and let me think!"

"Andrew's my responsibility. If anybody kills him, it's going to be me," Charlie declared, raising his tail like it was a Skorupi's stinger.

The Marshtomp shook violently, a loud rumbling coming from his stomach. "I will kill both of you if you kill me!"

In the midst of the Chaos, Andrew glanced toward Eugene. The giant dinosaur-like creature simply shook his head and let out a huff. As the three Pokemon remained at each others' throats the Tyrantrum raised his tail several feet off the ground, before allowing gravity to take hold of it. He smashed his tail against the floor.

BANG!

The sound startled Andrew, taking hold of his eardrums and creating a shrill ringing in them. The whole room shook, and the arguing Pokemon fell silent.

"It is clear to me," Eugene began, "That you children have lost the ability to conduct yourselves. Andrew Marshtomp, I believe you to be guilty of murdering Chloe Flaaffy. However, I recognize that at this time, we have not gone through the proper proceedings to convict you of such a thing."

"Because I'm innocent," Andrew interrupted.

The Tyrantrum's weary expression did not change even from the remark. "However, it remains clear to me that your presence in this building has done nothing but cause problems over these past months, even aside from the… murder. There is only one proper solution. Leave at once, and do not return to Grandeport Castle unless instructed otherwise by a member of this council."

"Woah, woah, woah," Andrew uttered as he threw his flippers up. "I'm the president. Only I can bar myself from coming here." He looked over at Charlie, who only shrugged in response.

"If you fail to abide by this order, you will not face the wraths of Felicia or Charles. You will face mine. And I will not hesitate to engage you in combat. That is not a fight you will win. Go home, Marshtomp. The adults will handle this situation," Eugene said calmly, but also an undertone of smugness and superiority.

"B-But–"

Eugene threw his tail down again, though less powerfully than before. "No buts. Leave. Unless… any other members wish to object?"

Felicia shook her head. Charlie gave no indication one way or another.

"Then it is settled," the Tyrantrum declared triumphantly. "Effective immediately, you are banished from Grandeport Castle indefinitely, Andrew Marshtomp."

Andrew stomped.

"Goddamnit! You can't banish me!"

o indication one way or another.

"Then it is settled," the Tyrantrum declared triumphantly. "Effective immediately, you are banished from Grandeport Castle indefinitely, Andrew Marshtomp."

Andrew stomped.

"Goddamnit! You can't banish me!"

I know that I say that we're getting close to the end of this fic every other chapter, but we really are, somehow. We have five chapters left. Five. I don't know… that's just mind boggling to me after having written this fic for so long. It's been a rollercoaster.

Of course, things aren't exactly going perfect for our amphibious "friend" but that's to be expected. Who knows what will happen to him next? Well, I do, but you'll have to wait another couple weeks to find out.

Thank you's to the usual people, DoomHuntley, DaGamestar, Sonic Ramon, and Zee102. You know them, you love them, and you better read their stuff.

Until next time!