Chapter 11
Honchkrow gathers the small group around on the stage. With only seven of them around, Sylveon leaves momentarily to go find Umbreon. As a result, Honchkrow speaks to only five other Pokemon about the consequences.
“While Pinky over there goes to see her boyfriend, which we all know is probably dead, we need to come up with a battle plan against her,” Honchkrow says.
Leavanny tilts his head slightly. “What do you mean? You think she’s the killer?”
“No, but we can
frame her and get out of this graveyard before we die. If we leave this building individually, we’ll all shot at with Bullet Seeds. However, if we come out with Leavanny tied up and gagged, they’ll think we found the murderer. We turn her in, make some fake evidence, and skedaddle. Since goody-two-shoes kicked the bucket, we don’t have to play by the rules, eh?”
Minun frowns. “I don’t like that idea. It sounds wrong.”
Electrike speaks up. “Hey, man, we have a one-in-six chance of getting it right. Think of the fame we could have. Memoirs.
How Your Home-Dawg Survived the Contest Massacre.”
Stunfisk flops around impatiently. “Bad idea. I don’t like lies.”
Honchkrow smiles at him reassuringly. “We won’t be lying...think of it as
writing a story of sorts.”
“What, you think we’re just one big story?” Aipom asks.
“No, that’s preposterous. What a stupid idea. If we were just a story, wouldn’t we just skip to the last page?”
“I like surprises,” Electrike says.
“I don’t like scary stories,” the Grass/Bug-type mentions.
“You’re all cowards.”
Sylveon looks around the main area of the room and finds nothing. She goes into the bathroom. Nothing. Over to Aipom’s popcorn stand. Nothing. Only when she went to the closet did she find Umbreon’s corpse. The girl sees the stab wound deep in his yellow circle and screams. She shuts the door tight and leaves his body in there. Running back to the stage, Sylveon sees something move in the shadows of the building. Darkness begins to take over the daylight just before. Pokemon are moving around her.
Sylveon runs and trips. She slams down on her side and skids against the ground. The Pokemon is tied up by the legs and a cloth is shoved into her mouth. She internally screams and breathes vigorously through her nose.
The Pokemon struggles in an attempt to escape Honchkrow’s strong grip. However, the Pokemon has her by the talon and flies her over to the stage. She slumps over and sighs in the darkness.
The stage lights above turn on. Sylveon becomes blinded with the sudden lighting and shields her eyes with their lids. She scrunches her face up to keep them as tight as possible, though she feels like she can see the light through her eyelids.
“Hello, Sylveon,” Honchkrow replies. “Today is your lucky day. You are going to be safe from harm for a very, very long time.”
“What if she gets the death penalty?” Aipom says guiltily.
“Then six lives are spared,” Honchkrow rebuttals.
“Six lives unsure if they made the right choice,” Leavanny frowns.
They stare at the poor Eeveelution and think about the opportunity to escape, to live. Is it worth ruining a possibly innocent person’s life?
Meanwhile, Minun decides to go into the bathroom. She ignores the mirrors and does her business quickly. She goes to wash her hands and closes her eyes. She turns on the faucet and starts washing.
Suddenly, she hears the bathroom door go slightly ajar, almost as if someone could have zipped through a crack and barely made a noise. Minun, alert, opens her eyes nervously and looks into the mirror to face her demise. However, she finds no one but a red-themed mouse staring back at her.
“Guess who?” the mouse asks.
Minun gulps and feels her head starting to hurt.
Electrike goes over to DJ. He begins playing the music and nodding to the beat. Leavanny and Aipom begin to groan. Later, though, Aipom, sits by Sylveon’s pitiful soul and watches her eyes long for freedom. He feels tempted, but Honchkrow keeps his eyes on the monkey.
Stunfisk and Leavanny stay off in the distance. Stunfisk mentions Honchkrow possibly being the murderer and Leavanny’s eyes flicker as a result. Is it possible that this bird is the killer after all? He
is trying to cover up the whole entire line of corpses. After all, there are thirteen corpses hidden in closets and outside rooms. Thirteen corpses that are beginning to stink up the entire Contest Hall (or at least its remains from the fire) with the odor of decay.
Minun walks out of the bathroom and looks at the two men. They see a different light in her eyes; instead of the cheery happiness she has been exhibiting, Minun now seems to have a thin layer of anger spread across them. Perhaps she is going through with Honchkrow’s plan?
Aipom runs over to Minun, Leavanny, and Stunfisk and starts whispering.
“Hey, guys, I have an idea. We all know Sylveon’s being treated unfairly, right?”
The other three nod.
“And you all probably want to do something about it, but you’re too scared to do it alone?”
They nod again.
“Then what about this?” Aipom begins before diving into a battle plan to combat.
Aipom is up at the spotlight, the only source of light in the building. Unbeknownst to Honchkrow, he has climbed up the catwalk and managed to make it to the light. According to his plan, everything is going perfect. He shuts the light off and accidentally breaks the lever that turns it back on.
Honchkrow can be heard squawking uncontrollably. A slashing sound can be heard, a slash from the knife found at Umbreon’s crime scene, and Sylveon’s ropes are free. A metal clanging falls to the ground from a short distance. Aipom jumps down onto the railing and gradually leaps to the stage’s level. He goes for Sylveon but finds her body gone. He goes for Honchkrow and finds everything missing. Aipom, desperate, runs over and feels of Electrike’s DJ station. The metal clanging happens again.
Minun directs her electricity to zap the spotlight and turn it back on. The light brightens the floor in a deep yellow shade and shows a couple of ropes torn to pieces. Beside it, however, lies the corpse of the poor DJing Electrike. His throat has a slit mark made by the knife used to cut Sylveon’s ropes, which lies beside his lifeless body. Everyone walks on stage, including Sylveon, and gawks at the innocent Pokemon’s demise.
“I thought you cut the ropes, Leavanny?” Aipom asks.
“I did, but I threw the knife down when it couldn’t get through the tougher part. I had to use my X-Scissor to cut the rope up,” he says.
“I heard the knife fall to the floor a second time,” the monkey says nervously. “Someone killed Electrike!”
Honchkrow, confused, looks at the whole crowd with an angry face. “My plan would’ve kept us alive! You idiots had to go and let the murderer free so she could kill us all. Electrike had it coming, and so will the rest of you,” he says.
The others frown at the body and feel guilty for their behavior.
Dead: Electrike