Frenzy (REBOOT) (Pokémon Danganronpa)

Chapter 43: Cleanse

THIRD PERSON

Laker had been unconscious for a while, and it would seem to anyone else like he was going to be out for a while. Contrary to that, the weasel began recovering his senses very quickly after regaining consciousness. He could somewhat smell the grass, but the pure darkness in his vision confused him. Actually, it was more than that; he felt an overwhelming pressure on both his face and body.

After letting out a muffled groan of complaint, he realized that there was someone on top of him.

"Mhh–hey!" Laker sharply inhaled after a certain Manectric backed up from the weasel's body. "What the hell?"

"Apologies, you were passed out and I made a promise to someone to protect you." Rayne reassured with a small smile, acting as if she hadn't been nestling her body into the Weavile.

"Wh–Why...when..?" Laker held his head in pure confusion, his eyes focusing on the ruffled fur on his chest.

"You had a little memory, to say the least." The Manectric sat on her haunches. "I had him forget his memories."

"Did he tell you everything?"

A nod from the canine. Laker suddenly leaped forward and grabbed at her shoulders enthusiastically. "Wait, that means we can escape!"

Rayne only frowned sourly at the weasel before he reciprocated. "He didn't want anything to do with us, if anything, he was seconds away from joining Sam again. He was not going to tell us the way to escape."

"For the love of..." He groaned and sat back on the grassy floor. "Then why did he choose to forget?"

"Those two months in here still had an effect on him, it seems." Rayne's gaze deviated. "He was stuck between the options of coming back to Sam or leaving the cage. The only thing stopping him from both is that Sam actually betrayed him...you weren't supposed to be a participant in this game at all."

Laker thought for a moment, his eyes wandering until they landed on the Manectric's face. "I guess that's a problem for him to figure out, I'm still my own person outside of this."

"You're not worried?"

"Of course, I'm very worried." The Weavile frowned and stood up to gather his bearings. "But I still refuse to have my memories returned, I don't want to be that person anymore. Anyone who associates with Sam is a terrible Pokemon, including my past self."

Laker didn't say much else as he walked off—although he snuck a small 'thank you' hug to the Manectric for restoring him back to his new self.

She still didn't quite tell him the entire truth. While everything she said did happen, there's no denying that Sam's true intentions were something she had to hide. If what old Laker said was true, that meant everyone's reason for being in the game was that they wanted to fund Sam's project. More specifically, they wanted to selfishly fund it at the sacrifice of another person's life.

As if Sam had the right to play god, she threw everyone in the game for the mixed reason of justice and morbid curiosity. What made a crazed lunatic like her feel like she had the right to have a judgment on that matter? Rayne knew there was something greater to this, especially with Laker, but there was no more thinking she could do on that matter.

LEON'S POV

"I feel like I could have done more to prevent it..." I said in an exhale.

I found myself on the porch talking to Sherwood about how we were led up to this situation.