The Evolution (Reboot)

His mind was blank. The blackness surrounded him. There was not a single dream nor a single thought that crossed his mind. It was utter silence. Peaceful silence. That was, until the truck Gareth was riding in hit a bump in the row. A couple of boxes were jostled about and one of them fell on top of the Empoleon Gijinka. It startled him awake.

Bound and gagged, he looked around the back part of the truck. It was blackness. Dark and silence. Well-except for the silent humming of the engine and the faint smell of exhaust emitting from the pipe. The movement seemed jagged, as if he was being transported to an area outside of the city. A bumpy path, perhaps? He wasn't sure.

It all came to light when the truck screeched to a halt. The doors burst open, the light blinding Gareth. Hands reached out and grasped the man's shoulders, dragging him out, almost as if he were just a bag of trash. The empoleon barely could stand when he was jolted to the side, pushed and pulled, he was brought into a foreign area where others, similar to him, stood. The guards pushed Gareth into a line and undid the gag in his mouth, then removed the ties from his hands. They felt that Gareth wouldn't burst into a rage and flee because he was too dazed from being smashed in the back of the head.

He heard people say their names as he tried to get his eyes adjusted to the light. There were several of them. Hundreds even. All of them appeared Gijinka-like. Like him. His eyes drifted onto a tall Houndoom, standing next to him. Well-kind of. The Houndoom was more like, cussing out in some language that Gareth didn't even know existed.

Thrashing about and kicking at the guards, Viktor was not pleased in the slightest. They had his hands bound tightly against his back but did not prevent him from trying to headbutt the guards, bite, or kick out. His once neatly groomed hair was now a tangled mess due to the angry flailing he was doing.

"Stop your fighting. The more you do this, the harder we make it for you!" The guard hissed as he punched the Houndoom in the gut. "Now state your name."

"Zasranec." Viktor hissed to the guard.

"I have no damn clue as to what you said. But I am sure that's not your name." He jabbed his weapon in the crevasse between his ribs. This made Viktor cough up and back away from him a couple of steps. Unfortunately, the backing up didn't prevent the guard from trying to get his name from him. He then grabbed for Viktor's leather coat, trying to tug him forward. It was successful. But not in the way that the guard had hoped.

"Nu vse, tebe pizda!!!" Viktor shouted before he smashed his head against the guard. His hit connected with the man's nose and blood spilled from it. "Do not touch jacket!" Viktor went to go for another slam against the guard but a different guard stepped over and yanked on Viktor's black hair. This force jerked the Houndoom's head backwards, showing off his neck. He held a knife to Viktor's throat.

"Name." The man repeated with a firm tone.

"Viktor. Viktor Vikashev." He said to the man. His accent still very thick. "Not from here. You would not know of place, since you are idiot." He then spat in the guard's face.

"You're lucky we aren't allowed to kill you. Stand over there." The man hissed, shoving Viktor over towards Tetris and the others. "Your name?" He asked Gareth.

"Gareth Thompson. I am from the Town of Rota." He calmly introduced himself to the guard. To not any surprise, the guard simply nodded and told Gareth to go away. The Empoleon followed Viktor over to Tetris and the rest of the gang. He simply nodded in a friendly gesture. "Hello. My name is Gareth. Where...are we exactly?"

"Not home." Viktor mumbled under his breath. His eyes were staring the two guards down. He didn't take this sort of treatment lightly. Oh how he wanted to burn their britches off. "If this is pit fighting, I kick their ass."

"I some-how doubt this is pit fighting." Gareth rubbed the back of his head. He wasn't sure as to how to handle the angered Houndoom.

"WHERE IS MY BROTHER?" He shouted at the guards.

 

Persephone could feel the truck that her and Blaze were in coming to a stop. She was anxious, her and Blaze were trapped in the back of a truck with no escape going to who knows where. Well, at least Blaze was there. Somehow on the drive over Blaze had managed to fall asleep. Persephone tried to shake him awake the best she could, but he didn't wake, not until the guards opened the doors at the back of the truck and Blaze suddenly made a hissing noise normally associated with vampires in some movies.
They were both gagged, so they couldn't talk too well. Persephone really wasn't in the mood for humour at the time and through her gag she tried to talk. "Blaze, you're a Quilava gijinka remember, not a Arceus-damned Zubat." But she couldn't even hear it properly herself, so Blaze would never have been able to.

The guards came up to get the two friends out of the back of the truck. He took the gag out of their mouths so they could finally talk again, but didn't unbind their hands. Persephone now couldn't help but do a sarcastic courtesy to the guard and say "thank you" in the stupidest voice she could.
"And this from the girl who was calling me a Arceus-damned Zubat a few moments ago from having a little fun with the light." Blaze was a bit peeved, but was also glad to be ungagged. He had also heard exactly what Persephone had said a few moments ago.
"Come on lovebirds, get moving." The guards were getting annoyed.
"What-"
"No-"
"You've got it wrong."
"I don't care, just get a damned move on." The guard pointed a rifle at Persephone. "Oh, my finger is getting a bit twitchy."
Blaze and Persephone walked on, the guard behind them mumbling on about having to escort two idiots a few metres. He left them alone at the check-in desk where they were met with a blunt "names."
"Blaze Ishida-"
"And Persephone Kuwazowe. We're from Virbank city."
"Alright, shove off now, lovebirds." Blaze stormed off to where there were a group of gijinkas already that looked friendly enough. Persephone stayed behind just long enough for the guy at the check-in desk to noticed her middle finger, then stormed of.
She caught up to Blaze, ignorant that there were five other gijinkas there as well. "Why do people always assume we are boyfriend and girlfriend?" And then she noticed the others. "Oh, crap. Hey, I'm Persephone Kuwazowe."
Blaze shuddered at his friend's sudden lack of attention and then said, "And I'm her FRIEND, Blaze Ishida. She is like this a lot, so don't tell her secrets or anything. And," Blaze pulled out a Pokéball, "this is my friend, Growlie." He released the Growlithe from it's Pokéball for it to say hello to everyone.

 

Sniffles could be heard on the bus as it moved down the bumpy road. Effie the Ampharos Gijinka laid on her side, bag over her head as she cried. She had no idea where she was and it terrified her! She wasn't fond of small spaces, either, and she knew she was surrounded by many others. There was a rough bump in the road which sent her upwards, and back down onto her hands. She groaned in pain, her wrists bending painfully into her lower back. She was miserable.

Nearby there was high pitched "mmmph!" sounds of someone trying to speak! This caused Vlad to open his topaz eyes quickly. His eyes began to glow as he looked through the bag over his head due to his Luxray genes. Across from him was a peach skinned blue headed woman. She was squirming about, attemping to get the duct tape off of her mouth. She was obviously a talker. The Luxray man closed his eyes, waiting for them to get wherever the hell they were going.

A bright light that was the sun hit Vladimir's sensitive eyes. He hissed, attempting to retreat into a dark corner somewhere. Firm hands took his arms, pulling him roughly out of the truck. He grunted as his feet hit the ground unsteadily. "Stand up!" Someone spoke sharply to him.

He stood, mumbling "Ostyn'." When he stood up, he was released, though put in a line with others. As he looked about, the people all seemed..different. Gijinkas like himself, perhaps.

There was a yelp from behind, and something soft and sweet smelling bumped into him. He turned his serious gaze back only to meet the warm brown eyes of a girl with horns. An Ampharos Gijinka. "S-sorry!" She said. Her eyes were red, no doubt from crying.

"It is OK." He stated flatly, his Russian accent thick. He would've continued on the convo with her, but he was too busy checking out his surroundings. Big open field, high walls all around. He needed to get closer to a wall, see how high up it was..

"Name?" Someone snapped at him again. Vlad turned his scowl on the peasant human before him and just stared. "Name?" They repeated even more harshly.

"YA ne otvechayu va, I do not answer to you." Vlad replied angrily. There was a sharp jab in his back, and a man in his face.

"In here, you do." The human replied lowly. "Or you die. Understood?"

"Ya ponimaju."

"Name?" The guard repeated yet again.

"Vladimir Vikoshev. I come from wonderful place away from here. I have brother here. Where is he?" He asked with an annoyed tone. Of course it wasn't answered, and he was shoved through the line.

Up next was Effie. She was nervous, especially after seeing how harshly Vlad was treated. She looked up at the guard with fear in her brown eyes, but it was quickly replaced with anger. The guard was looking at her- but not in the way a woman likes to be looked at. "Effie Rosamond. Olivine." She spat, stomping on his foot as she marched through. She heard a "bitch!" from behind her, she didn't care.

"Wooww, you're an angry guy aren't ya?" the blue headed woman Vlad had seen from before was right behind Effie. "I'm Kimikooo Mochizuki! I ran away from Ecruteak, but I didn't think I'd end up here, but where is here actual-"

She was shoved on through the line. "Wow, he was rude!!" She said to Effie and Vlad, who were nearby, just loafing about.

"What do we do now...?" Effie said in a worried, distance voice. She was looking off.

Vladimir was still eyeing the walls. He spoke to the two beautiful women before him. "Stick close to me. I find brother and we get out."

The group didn't even have to take three steps forward they heard Viktor's loud voice calling for Vlad. The Luxray quickly made his way over to the outraged Vik. "Vik! I found you! Privet (Hey)! Where we located?" He asked. "I want to get this focking wrap off wrists." He wriggled his wrists from behind.

"Hey, you talk funny!!" Kimiko bubbled over to Vlad and Vik. "Where are you two from?"

"Far away, paradise." Vlad answered. "Why we here?" He asked the surrounding group, before turning back to Vik. "Let's plan escape."

Surrounding Vik were other gijinkas. Effie eyed them shyly from beside Vlad. "Hello," she mumbled, attempting a little curtsy. "How do you do? I'm Effie, by the way."

Kimiko attempted to imitate Effie's greeting, but ended up falling to the dusty ground, dirt clinging to part of her kimono. She giggled from the ground. "Hehe, that's kinda hard to do when you're all bound up!!" She got to her feet, and shook her body in hopes the dust would fall off. It didn't. "Aw man!!" She said.

"I'm Kimikooo!" The Surskit Gjinka cheered. She turned to a rather burly man, who looked similar to a Tauros. "Hey you!" she skipped over to him happily, a naïve grin on her face. Her short blue hair swayed about in the wind. "Could you use your head to knock the dust off of my stomach?" She motioned with her head the area below her bosom. Kimiko was a weird one!

 

The back of the truck was hot and stuffy. Blindfolded and bound, Clarice sweated in one of the corners. She was terrified, to say the least; not knowing where she was going or what was going on scared her. The truck came to a rather abrupt stop, causing the Volcarona girl's head to thump against the wall and making her wince in pain. The truck hatch soon opened, sending a short gust of much-needed fresh air into the hatch. It was cool against Clarice's sweat-covered skin, but the moment of relaxation was cut off as someone roughly took her out of the truck. Her blindfold was removed, but frankly, she wished it hadn't.

The scene before her was bleak. Clarice was in what seemed like a prison camp, with high walls surrounding the place and armed guards watching the perimeter. She wasn't alone, either; hundreds of other people, likely gijinkas like herself, were being prodded this way and that. The grey, cloud-covered sky accented the dreariness of the place. Clarice couldn't absorb the scene for long, as a quick jab to the back by the butt of a rifle signified that she had to move. The Volcarona gijinka shuffled along, her gaze at the ground in front of her, into a long line of other gijinkas.

Quickly, the line began to move. Clarice once again took to taking in her surroundings. The high walls were topped with barbed wire to further deter escape. The several watch towers had spotlights as well as mounted machine guns. Several of the guards had Pokémon at their sides; she noticed several Mightyena and Houndoom barking and snarling at some of the other gijinkas. What a nightmare, Clarice thought. What is this place? How am I ever going to get out..?

She was snapped back to reality when she bumped into the man in front of her. She let out a little squeak of surprise before looking up to see who she had bumped. The man had a pale blue jacket on, which almost matched the color of the bleak sky. His hands were securely bound by a pair of metal handcuffs instead of the rope bindings she wore. She noticed a pair of dark red wings protruding from his back; their axe-blade shape brought an image to her head that made her shiver. Her gaze shifted up, and she was met with a cold, over-the-shoulder glare by the man, his dark eyes almost piercing her teal ones.

The man turned his head away from Clarice. "Watch were you're going," he grunted irritably.

"S-sorry..." Clarice stuttered, though it didn't serve much purpose to do so. Man, this guy was intimidating!

Eventually, the line winded down until the man before Clarice was up next. He was ordered to step forward by a pair of guards, one with a clipboard and a pen. "What's your name?" the guard asked the man. The guard sounded almost bored.

"You rounded me up and brought me here. You should know my name already," the man replied, his voice still filled with irritation. A sharp jab to the gut by the second guard's rifle made the man double over and grunt in pain. As he stood back up, the first guard repeated his question, his tone more serious. "Morris. Alex Morris. From Castelia City," the man hissed. He spat at the guard's shoes, a small tuft of blue fire escaping his lips as he did so. "You're lucky my hands are bound, you little bastard," he added, pulling on his handcuffs.

"Sure I am, tough guy," the guard replied as the second prodded him in a new direction. He sighed before calling out, "Next."

Clarice stepped forward, her legs quivering from both fear and the cold air. The guard repeated his question to her. "Clarice F-fidella, from Nimbasa City," she replied, her voice a bit shaky. The guard scribbled the information on his clipboard, and with a nod of his head, dismissed her. She was pushed away as the next gijinka was summoned forward.

The Volcarona gijinka panicked. She was in an unknown, nightmarish place, without any instruction or guidance. All she wanted to do was find someone, anyone, that she could talk to. Her wide eyes scanned the shuffling crowd for a familiar face. They landed on Alex, who was already in a shouting match with another gijinka. This other guy looked like a Gyarados gijinka; his forearms were tattooed to the extreme. The little scuffle ended with Alex kicking the guy squarely in the chest, knocking the wind out of him and sending him stumbling back. The Salamence gijinka shouted something at the thug as he walked away, but Clarice didn't pick it up.

Alex stormed past Clarice, but soon slowed his pace and eventually stopped. The Volcarona gijinka hesitantly approached him, quietly asking, "What was that all about?"

The Salamence whipped around, his intimidating gaze landing on Clarice's pretty face. He then huffed and looked away, grumbling, "I just needed to vent... They guy was pissing me off. I hate hotshots like him." With a shake of his head, he changed the topic. "Who are you, exactly?"

"I'm Clarice," she responded, trying to sound upbeat. "And you're Alex, right?"

"I prefer to be called 'Drake'," he said flatly, still not looking at Clarice. His mind was elsewhere; he was thinking about how he could escape wherever the Hell he was right now. The perimeter walls for formidable, to say the least. The only easy way in or out was through the vehicle entrance, but that, too, was heavily guarded. It was clear that whatever entered wasn't supposed to get out.

Since "Drake" was lost in his thoughts, Clarice looked around. Her eyes soon landed on a small group of gijinkas who seemed friendly enough. She edged closer to the group. One of the gijinkas, a Lucario, asked who she was. "My name's Clarice," she answered back, her beautiful wings fluttering a bit. She looked back towards Drake, who was still absorbed in himself, his eyes fixed on one of the watch towers. The Volcarona gijinka walked in front of him and brushed her wing against him to get his attention.

It certainly did the trick. Drake recoiled from Clarice when her wing brushed against him. None of the Volcarona's signature fire scales were scraped off, to him relief. He shot a deadly glare at her. "What do you think you're doing? I want to be alone." His tone was heavy with irritation, but Clarice ignored his cold remark.

"I found a little group of other gijinkas," she said. "They seem nice enough. Come on, I'll take you to them." Her expression was, for the first time, cheerful. Drake continued to stare her down coldly until he finally sighed and shrugged. He followed Clarice back to the group. "This is Drake," she announced for the Salamence, gesturing with her head.

The Volcarona gijinka scanned the group to see who all was there. Her teal eyes landed on an Ampharos gijinka, whose bright dress attracted her attention. "My, your dress is really pretty!" she chimed. "It looks really good on you."

Drake simply nodded at Clarice's introduction of him. He wasn't interested in whatever the group was doing... until he heard the word "escape". He didn't know who said it, but he didn't care. "Did someone say 'escape'?" he asked. "If you've got some idea, I'd love to hear it." He was, truthfully, being a bit rude. He believed that escape from a place this fortified was impossible. Nonetheless, he wanted out, and if this ragtag group was is ticket, he'd take it.

 

Ugh...so much work and there was still no progress. Catherine didn't even completely understand why she got put in such a fortified prison anyway and all she wanted was to escape. However, it seems that she had to be put with a group of strangers she didn't even know. The Espeon gijinka was trying to ignore them all but now she knows that to be impossible. With a snarl, she turned towards the group she was with and spoke loudly.

"Well, there was never any progress with what WE were currently doing so if you morons have any good ideas, you better say them now." She hissed at the group with a voice sounding like venom. She was in a very bad mood, one that might even make her snap at anything. She never wanted to be put in her, she didn't even know what she did! If anything, she was framed for something absolutely horrid and that would be enough for her to be a complete jerk. But no, things had to go much more worse as far as she was concerned. Things always do go worse for her lately. That was why she ran away from her family years ago but did she really get to be free from being stuck with this situation? No, it did not.

Turning her back to the group, she folded her arms and stayed silent, trying to calm herself down. Of course, that was impossible with all things considered. She would have to take matters into her own hands, yet again, and if she would have to beat the living daylights out of someone, then she will not hesitate to do so. In fact, she'd be more than happy to knock some heads with the gijinkas she was with right now.

 

Standing at the front of the check-in, he rubbed his sore left eye with the back of his hand, sighed at the blood on his arm, then stuck his hands back in his jacket pocket.
He remembered only vaguely how he got his wounds during the check-in process.

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He tumbled out of the truck, and the Charizard Gijinka mumbled to himself, "Could have at least given us some food."
The guards on duty did not seem pleased that they would have to handle the fire-type. They must have known his background, for they asked for no name, nor lineage, nor hometown. Led by a leash and gunpoint, they forced him into a small space by himself.
"This is your holding cell, Leon. If you try to act out, you will be punished to the extent of our orders. If you try to escape, you die." one of the guards spoke sternly.
"Fuck you. You and your family."
The guards drew their guns as the highest ranking officer had the privilege of smashing Leon across the face. However, the officer did not escape unscathed, as Leon lashed out with sharp claws, catching the man's hat and tearing out some of his hair.
"You're tough. Good. That means you get the 'fun' experiments."
The man grinned from ear to ear evilly and walked off.

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Sitting in his cell, he looked up and saw quite more than a few of his own people being guided like cattle through the guards. He noticed a group gathering in front of his newly nicknamed 'Funbox'. There were many Gijinkas, all of varying colors and Pokémon types. One was very loud, and one was very quirky, looking down at her stomach and back as if to say something important.
However, knowing he could not call out to them for escape lest he risk more injury to himself, Leon sat.
And waited for opportunity.

 

The nice young lass came over to talk to Gareth. He wasn't very good with conversations but it was worth a shot. He nodded to her question. "Indeed I am. I was trained as a knight to protect the castle that resides in the town I live in. It's a tough job but it's worth it in the end." He smiled at the thought. Being a knight was such an honor. Especially how he got to protect the royalty from any harm. Though, the place he lived in was rather quiet and uneventful. "What sort of job did you work, before getting stuck here like us all?"

"Brother!" Viktor greeted enthusiastically. His current actions were much different from before, where he flailed and cursed out in his language. It seemed like someone had wipe the table clean and showed a new side! He walked over to his brother and gave him a quick manly bro-hug. Patting him on the back and stepping away from him. Mainly to look around the area that they were stuck in. "Glad to see you here. I dunno where we are but I kick more ass if things go bad." He frowned. He hated how he and his brother were being treated. Criminals! How rude! Viktor glanced down at the wrappings on his brother's wrists and decided to unbound him from the ropes. "We plan escape. Yes."

"I will assist you on doing so." Gareth added. "But we must play it smart. Act too rash and we'll get harmed."

"Why they bring us here?" Viktor disregarded Gareth's warning about acting out badly. He let the others do the thinking for him. Viktor would rather pummel things in his path and ask questions later. He then turned to Effie who was being so cute towards them. The cute little curtsy. Viktor did a fancy bow to her. Trying to be as kind and respectful as she was. "Hello, Effie. I am Viktor and this is brother Vlad. You look cute in outfit." He paused for a moment. He swore that he had missed a couple words in that sentence. But he shrugged. Language barriers. How fun.

Gareth flinched when Kimiko fell to the ground after her failed attempt to imitate the greeting. He held out his hand to her, hoping to help her up. But she had managed to do it on her own. Gareth pulled his hand back and placed it at his side. "You alright ma'am?" But once again, his answer came forth when she skipped over to the Tauros and spoke to him.

"Crazy bunch they all are." Viktor said to his brother.

Gareth turned to greet the other gijinkas that came forth. He bowed to them out of respect. Viktor just laughed at the chivalry.

Viktor heard someone say that he and his brother sounded funny! Why? Why would they think that? Offended, Viktor glanced over at Kimiko. His nose scrunched up in distaste for such a comment. "You speak funny too." He fired back. Yeah! True insult right there! "Not from around here." He decided to answer. "From another region." He wouldn't give in to telling anyone where exactly he and his brother were from.

Atlas began to speak his words. Despite how calming and soothing his voice was, it sent chills down his spine. It was eerie on how calm and collected this man was. Collecting gijinkas for the purpose of research? Couldn't he had opened up job opportunities for such a thing? Then again, Gareth wasn't so sure as to who would actually put their own lives at risk. Not even he would have entered that sort of job. But he kept his mouth shut and quietly listened to what the madman had to say.

"I do not like the sounds of this." Gareth mumbled lowly to himself. "This just doesn't seem humane." He simply followed orders and walked along the selected path that they were to walk in. There was no need to act out on this situation. Especially when the opposing force had more power than he.

"HEY!" Viktor growled when a guard touched him. He hauled off and elbowed the guard in the rib cage, making him fall over. "Don't touch jacket. I hurt you." But his threat was considered useless as another guard pushed him onwards. Viktor couldn't do anything else, other than follow along.

Once they made it into their rooms, Viktor was shoved into a room. He flailed a bit as he tried to regain his balance. Once he did, he spun on his heels to try and punch the guard that had him. But to his surprise, the guard expected the attack and shoved him back. Viktor landed on his butt on the ground. He glared up at the man, wanting to rip his insides out. "Go to hell." Viktor shouted at the man.

"Been there. It was nice. Got tickets to go back." The guard simply replied.

As for Gareth, he was lead into a room without much hassle. He stood there and let out a solemn sigh. How does he get into these strange predicaments?

 

"O-Oh, thank you so much!" Effie said with a smile and a light blush. More than one person had complimented her on her attire. Her smile soon turned into a frown. It made her sad to see so many good people locked up in this..prison. They didn't deserve it! She tried to make her smile return. "It's wonderful to meet you all! Despite our circumstances.."

Vlad rubbed his wrists as his brother spoke with Gareth as they planned an escape. Many others joined in, too. Much to Vlad's dislike, they all decided they'd better play it safe and smart for now. He grunted, wanting to act now. Though he agreed; they needed more information before they tried to escape. "Very well. Play safe now, strike later. Right, brother?" He said to Vik.

Effie listened to the chatter around her as she looked around. Just what was this place? On the outside she was seemingly calm, but on the inside she was terrified. What if their captors were going to kill them? She gave a little jump when she felt warm hands on her wrists. Her brown eyes widened as she turned, only to see the Lucario boy from before.

She felt his eyes on her as he undid her bindings, and she blushed a little. "Thank you.. Tetris, was it?" She rubbed her wrists as she turned, offering him a smile and a little bow.

"Hehehe!" Kimiko's giggle rang through the air as Ares called her pretty. "D'aw. Thank ya Ares, you're pretty too!" She let him unbind her and dust off her outfit. The Masquerain spread out her arms, revealing her Masquerain patterned kimono. "Aah man, it feels good to stretch!" She twirled about, unnaturally happy. When Ares patted her kimono, she only laughed more; it tickled!

"Talk funny!" Vlad scoffed. Everyone always pointed out he and his brother's accent! "We from another region. Better region! Place where you don't get captured." He grumbled. He wasn't sure on that though; he didn't know if people were okay in his homeland or not, which worried him. "You are too boobly." He mispronounced 'bubbly,' making Kimiko roar in laughter.

His attention was turned to an Espeon-like girl, Catherine, who kept complaining with a bad attitude. His eyes narrowed. "Too bossy. Hope I don't have to room or work with you. You seem like a stick is up your ass."

The sudden screech overhead made them all jump. A young boy, Atlas appeared. Apparently they were all going to be used for research! What did that mean? "What kind of research?" Effie pressed. Of course, her questions weren't answered; she was manhandled again!

Down an eerie hall they went, one by one, surrounded by guards. A few grunts escaped Vlad's lips, and "owies" from Kimiko. Effie stayed tearfully silent. They were all shoved into rooms in pairs. Fortunately for Vlad, he and Viktor shared a room.

Vlad quickly turned to escape from the room, but some sort of glass door closed the opening, and there was no handle or anything to open it! "Chto za huy! Let us out!" He smacked his fists against the doors. "Vik, can you open?" He asked his brother. His brother was more of a powerhouse than he was. Using his Luxray eyes, he glanced around, looking for weak points in the walls. He found the electrical box which opened and closed the door, but no way to get to it. "Govno."

"Woah, do we get roomies? This will be awesome!!" Kimiko squealed as she was shoved into a room, her roommate already present. "Yeah, just awesome." A guard smirked.

Kimiko twirled about the room noting the beds, bathroom and painting. "Aw man, no books or video games.." she turned around, to look at her roommate. It was Ares. "Oh awesome, you'll be my roommate!" She flung herself at him, hugging his head to her chest. "This will be soo fun, we can stay up late and tell spooky stories!!"

Effie remained quiet as she was led to her room, and thankfully wasn't shoved in. She nervously stepped in, noticing Gareth in the corner. "Hello? Gareth, is it?" She gave a nervous smile. "I guess we're roommates!"

She sat on one of the beds. "How long do you think they'll keep us here?"

 

She noticed that one person talked to her and he wasn't very friendly. She already didn't like this place one bit and she didn't like him either, not now anyway. The Espeon shot a glance his way as a retort came into her mind. "First of all, I was sent here without me knowing and I don't like this place at all. Secondly, I could say the same thing about you except for the 'stick up in your ass' bit." She looked around after telling him off, not wanting to get into any fights. She looked around and it seems odd to her...the place made a chill go down her spine for some reason but she soon dismissed the thought.

Catherine noticed that some of the group, after a second look, weren't all that bad. Maybe if she was lucky, she'd be able to be with one of them...but that was unlikely since she wasn't all that much of a social person anyway.

The sudden screech was pretty hard on her nerves and ears. As she covered one of them, she looked up at the boy that called himself Atlas. He was speaking about them being used for research and that made her roll her eyes. There wouldn't be any easy research with her involved, Catherine had that much figured out.

Being surrounded by guards and being led somewhere, she felt the spine chill she had earlier. She didn't want to start any fights so when she reached the room she would be in, she went in without much of a hassle for her own sake. She noticed that the Lucario boy from earlier was in the same room. "Hey. I guess you and I are together." She gave a quick wave, glad that she was fortunate with who her roommate was. "I don't know your name but mine's Catherine." she added, not sounding very happy at all.

 

Drake grunted and crossed his arms. No one had bothered to talk to him, but then again, mingling wasn't on his to-do list. His thoughts drifted towards a means of escape. Obviously, this place was heavily guarded. Getting out of here is gonna be one Hell of a job, he thought. He kept quiet, as though not to interrupt the others; the Salamence wasn't a very social person.

Clarice, on the other hand, was absorbed with the group. Several different conversations were going on at once; it was tough to join in! She noticed a grumpy-looking pair with a heavy foreign accent. It was funny to listen to them talk, though she stifled her giggles as best she could. When one of them mispronounced "bubbly" as "boobly", the Volcarona laughed, but caught herself and stopped. Laughing at other people's accents is rude!

Suddenly, someone began to address the entire camp of gijinkas. This young man introduced himself as Atlas. He claimed that these hundreds of gijinkas was assembled for research purposes. He sounded honest enough, but Drake knew otherwise. "'Research'," he scoffed. "All he's gonna do is torture us." This man was clearly not to be trusted.

When Clarice heard the word "torture", she shuddered. She had only been in one of the many smaller camps for a short time, but the other inmates had told horror stories of what went on there. However, she refused, perhaps stubbornly, to accept that this man would torture these gijinkas senselessly. Perhaps all of this was in the name of science. "What makes you think that..?" Clarice asked Drake, even though she had an idea of what his answer would be.

"These people've been rounding us up for months now, and they haven't researched a damn thing on us," the Salamence growled. "It's all just torture. What makes you think it'll be any different here?"

Good point, Clarice noted.

When Atlas ended, the guards began herding the gijinkas into holding cells. Drake and Clarice were manhandled into different, adjacent rooms. Though this was little more than a prison camp, the rooms were actually rather nicely furnished. It was almost... too accommodating.

Out of the sight of the guards, Drake tried freeing himself from his metal handcuffs. He grunted as he struggled to pull apart on the chain connecting them. Eventually, they snapped with a satisfying metallic crack. The grouchy Salamence proceeded to wrench the actual cuffs from his wrists. When he succeeded, he cast them aside and rubbed his wrists, which were slightly sore from the metal chaffing them. "Nice to have those damn things finally off..." he grumbled to himself. The leaned back against one of the corners and propped his leg up. With an irritated huff, he crossed his arms again. He waited to see who he would be forced to room with.

Once Clarice had been shoved into her room, the guard, oddly enough, unbound her wrists. She regarded his expression; it was one of masked pain, as if he felt sympathy for all of these trapped gijinkas. He was rather young, also, likely not much older than herself. Once the bonds were off, Clarice whispered, "Thank you." The young guard said nothing, but the smallest of smiles crept onto his face as he left. Maybe not all of these guys are so bad, the Volcarona thought. She took a seat on one of the beds, bouncing slightly to test its' firmness. "For a prison cell, this isn't too bad..." she thought aloud. Her eyes drifted to the entrance as she wondered who she'd be rooming with.

 

The rest of the gijinkas had already started up their own conversations, leaving Blaze and Persephone to try and get their attention, failing each try. The two brothers, Viktor and Vlad looked pretty intimidating, and didn't sound too nice.
"Well, it seems we've been left out." Persphone couldn't help stating the obvious.
Blaze just sarcastically said to himself, "and I have no idea why that would be." Vlad mispronounced bubbly cause of his weird accent, making Blaze snicker. "And someone else happens to be a little to bubbly here."

Suddenly, some guy named Atlus made an announcement through the PA, shocking Persephone. As the announcement went on, the on thing that stuck in both their minds was that they were going to be researched on. "You know, I remember there was a comic with genetic mutations where they did the same thing and eventually it started some war between the two groups. I sure hope that never happens to us." The Cloyster girl was really into fantasy comics, and sometimes couldn't establish how different they were from real life. "And I don't like the way he said 'rooms', he sounds like a super villain."
When Atlus finished taking, the gijinkas were split up into rooms of two by the guards. The guard who earlier shepherded Blaze and Persephone out of truck came over and personally split the two up in separate rooms, smiling as he did. He unbound their hands and pushed them into rooms that each already had someone in them.

Persephone was put into Drake's room and Blaze was with Clarice. Blaze thought that maybe it might be nice to get to know someone other than Persephone at this place. Clarice was bouncing slightly on her beds when Blaze decided to talk to her. "Hey, I'm Blaze, I guess we're stuck in this room together for the next Arceus knows how long. What's your name, and I guess since we're all gijinkas her, what Pokémon are you? I'm part Quilava." He started looking around the room for Growlie, but couldn't see him anywhere. "Oh crap, where is he, where is he."

Persephone and Growlie tried to settle down in Drake's room, but there was just something that was unsettling her about Drake. She quickly noticed that Growlie was in her room and started to worry. "Oh, Blaze is gonna worry if you aren't with him boy. Well, you're gonna make this interesting." She was hoping Drake noticed the Growlithe and didn't thing she was talking to him. "And you, sulking in the corner, what's your name? I'm Persephone Kuwasowe and I'm part Cloyster."

 

Asshole; I know what you're really planning. Leon thought as he continued to sit in his "Funbox". And what the hell kind of name is The Industrial? Stupid metaphors.
Hearing many objections to being moved into individual holding chambers, Leon calmly followed the guards into his new home. After they closed the cell door, he kicked the door, half-expecting it to open.
It didn't.

Looking around the room, Leon saw his bed and flopped onto it, waiting for an announcement as to his situation. He also realized he was alone in his cell.
Good, he thought, just makes it easier for me to stay unattached.

 

Viktor stood in the room with his arms tightly folded against his chest. He was rather agitated with the idea of being captive. Plus people mocking he and his brother's accent didn't really help either. Instead of thrashing about, he paced back and forth in the room. Though in honesty, he was thankful that his roommate was going to be his brother and not one of the new strangers.

The Houndoom turned to look at the door. "Okay brother." He said as he pulled back his sleeves. The Houndoom marched over to the door and looked at it. It seemed breakable enough. So he hauled back, doubling up his fist.

Gareth glanced over, through the glass door. He saw what the Houndoom stranger was going to do. Quickly, he moved his way to his own door and waved frantically. Unsure as to whether or not they could hear one another, Gareth figured that shaking his head would alert Viktor to not smash it. "NO! DON'T!"

Viktor didn't care what was going on. All he wanted to do was get out. And getting out was what he was going to do. He pulled his weight back and then threw it forward. His fist shot through the air and made a contact with the door.

There was a crack.

It wasn't the glass.

Viktor's bottom lip trembled as the sudden realization shot into his brain like a bullet. His knuckles cracked. He pulled back and flailed about. Screaming angrily in his language. Cursing and kicking the air. The pain was intense as he had managed to crack his knuckles terribly. He rushed over to a sink and ran cold water on it. "DOOR NOT MOVE FOR VIKTOR!!" He continued to talk through his teeth.

Viktor looked to his brother. "I do not like place. Glass is unbreakable. That is wrong. Glass needs to break when I smash fist into it." He then glanced over to the glass door. Viktor was offended by this door. It was as if the door mocked him for his brute strength. "Now what do we do?" He flopped onto his bed and looked to his brother. "We listen to tall knight guy? Or we still plot ways of getting out?"

Gareth only shook his head. The Houndoom was crazy. But what else could he have done to stop the guy from hurting himself? So the Empoleon only turned away to see Effie standing in the room with him. In his thinking spree, he didn't realize that she had followed him into the room. Not that he was going to complain.

"Ah yes." He did a quick and polite bow to her. Being as curtieous as he can. "You must be Miss Effie, correct? I believe I heard someone say your name earlier."

When she made her seat, Gareth walked over to his own bed and parked himself too. The bed was comfortable. So far the hospitality was decent. Though he wasn't overly fond of being lead by a bunch of punk-like guards. But they were captured and normally victims didn't get such nice things.

"I pray that we are not stuck here for long. I wish to be on my way and continuing my duties at the castle." He placed a hand under his chin and looked at his roommate. She seemed rather calm and collected. Nervous but he couldn't blame her for being so. "It would be nice if they decide to kick us out of here tomorrow. But something tells me that we're going to be stuck here until we either deliver what they want us to do. Or. We escape." He rubbed his nose. So much thinking!

"We will get out of here, alive. Don't worry." He gave her a calm smile.

 

Vlad winced when he heard his brother's knuckles crack against the door. He thought the door looked breakable enough-he didn't think it would damage his brother's knuckles! As he listened to his brother stomp about swearing all kinds of things in their language, he placed his fingertips on the door that "assualted" his brother.

"This glass thicker than it looks." He rapped his own knuckles over it before placing them under his chin. He wanted to get out of there! But How? The glass wasn't completely sound proof, seeing as they'd heard the Knight shout at Viktor. "Your hand okay brother?"

The Luxray wondered if the door could be melted. But then again, it'd get so sweltering in the room, and he wasn't accustomed to heat like his brother. "This door impossible!" He threw his hands up. The walls seem to be just as solid as the door, so there was no way to get to the box that operated the door. "This is shit!"

The Houndoom had retired to his bed, his knuckles looking swollen. Vladimir didn't know if they were broken or not. Vik spoke up, asking what they should do- listen to Gareth, or try to escape. "Can't break through this wall if hand is like that." He said, motioning to Vik's hand. "Better wait it out."

He began to look through the walls again, noting that the Gijinkas from before were all around in other cells. "We're not alone. Others all around us." He informed his brother. He then shouted. "Hel-lo? Anyone able to break through glass?" He jumped when he heard a thud, wondering if it was someone else trying to smash through a door.

Effie was relieved that Gareth was a nice guy- and wasn't nearly as intimidating as he looked! She ran her hands over her bed sheets to get rid of the wrinkles. She found it rather peculiar that the rooms were so nice, especially since they were being held captive. She looked up when Gareth spoke to her.

"Oh- yes, I'm Effie." She continued to listen to him speak about not wanting to stay there long. "Don't you think it's rather peculiar," she responded to him slowly. "That our rooms are so nice? We're being held against our will and the guards don't appear to care about our well-being, so why the nice rooms?" She bit the inside of her lip before continuing. "It makes me wonder if it's a trap. They want to get us comfortable before they do something horrid."

Effie felt sort of bad for sounding so..negative. But she really didn't know what was to happen next to she and her new friends!

Kimiko gave a happy grin when Ares pulled away from her rather too-close-for-comfort hug and said 'don't touch me.' She cocked her head to the side, a confused look on her face. "Huh, you don't like hugs? But they're soo nice and warm!" She pouted when he said no ghost stories, but then broke into a grin. "We have to tell ghost stories!!! But I wont tell ones that are too scary- I don't want to get you spooked!" When he said no ghost stories, she assumed he got scared easily!

She heard a voice through the wall, asking if anyone had gotten the door open. "No silly, the doors are locked-" She shouted back, before being cut off.

Ares then said they needed to leave. "Leave? Where we going, Aree?-" Her sparkly eyes widened as the large fellow rammed into the glass door which enclosed them into their room. She heard a pop and she grinned brightly.

"Oh wow!! You got the door op- oh." Her grin faded when she saw that the glass wasn't cracked, but Ares' shoulder sure looked painful! She jumped when he screeched out in pain. His shoulder was clearly dislocated. The previously tough guy Ares looked at her with a pleading look in his eyes.

The naive young woman turned serious and frightened for once. The kimono'd Masquerain girl rushed over to the Taurus man, placing her tanned, slender hand on his shoulder, feeling dislocation. She got on her knees behind him, and took his arm in her hands.

With a shaky voice, she whispered. "This'll only hurt reaaaally bad for a moment." With that, she placed her free hand on his shoulder, and lifted his arm up by his head. She knew it'd bring him pain, but it'd sift the blade back into place.

She brought his arm back down, before tenderly massage his shoulders. "Are you okay now????" She then yelled at the wall.

"TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION MR. WALL MAN," she giggled. "NO WE HAVE NOT BROKEN THROUGH THE GLASS HERE." An unheard grunt from Vlad responded to her.

 

Clarice was humming a little tune to herself while she was seated on her bed when her roommate, a rather young man, appeared. He introduced himself as Blaze, and he stated the clear fact that none of the gijinkas were going anywhere soon. "Guess we'll just have to get used to it, huh?" she replied with a sigh. "My name's Clarice, and I'm part Volcarona." She fluttered her elegant wings as if to prove her statement. Blaze soon began to search around frantically for something, asking himself where "he" is. "Who are you looking for?" Clarice asked, rising from her seat, a concerned look on her face.

Drake had almost dozed off in his little corner when his roommate entered. He was awoken by someone talking; whether it was directed at him or not, he didn't know nor care. He looked in the direction of the sound and found a fairly attractive young woman before him. She said something about him "sulking", to which he simply scoffed. "'Sulking'?" he grunted, a slight smile on his face. "More like 'relaxing while I can'." He gaze shifted back to his feet; he was uninterested in his new roommate, who introduced herself as Persephone. To answer her question, he said, "Just call me Drake, by the way. I'm part Salamence." He flexed his leathery wings slightly, for having them pressed against the wall makes them ache after a while.

He said nothing more to Persephone... until he noticed a Growlithe sniffing at his leg. His eyebrow rose in curiosity, then furrowed in irritation. "Shoo," he hissed, swinging his other leg down as if to kick the dog Pokémon. He stopped short to avoid doing so, but the Growlithe got the message and jumped away, retreating to Persephone's side. He shot a glance at the Cloyster gijinka. "How the Hell did you get that thing in here?" Drake growled, gesturing to the Growlithe. "The guards should've confiscated the damn thing." He wasn't angry at the poor dog Pokémon; the guards took everything else of relative value from the rest of the gijinkas, so why not take their pets, too?

After a few minutes, Drake became bored. What he really wanted to do was get out of wherever he was, so he decided to attempt to break out. He approached the glass door that sealed his cell; at first glance, it didn't seem too special. Or too difficult to break, for that matter. He cracked his knuckles in preparation, then drew his fist back. Before he threw his punch, though, he heard a dull thump; looking over at one of the other cells, he saw another gijinka thrashing about, clenching his hand, most likely in pain. Shortly after, another gijinka tried to shoulder his way out, only to meet similarly painful results. Drake couldn't help but snicker at their misfortune. "Reinforced glass, huh..." the Salamence thought aloud with a slight chuckle. An idea struck him; this glass may resist brute force, but what about Pokémon moves? He pressed his fist against the cold glass and focused. A set of three Dragon Claws began to extend from just behind and between his knuckles like Wolverine's claws. They continued to grow until they touched the glass, whereupon they stopped. Curious, Drake slowly drew his arm back, and the Dragon Claws extended to their full length. "It resists Pokémon moves, too, then..." he thought aloud again. He sighed in disgust. "Busting out of this damn place is gonna be a lot harder than I thought."

 

Indeed. It seemed as though Viktor had broken his knuckles. One would think that he would learn to brainstorm better possibilities rather than acting out without thinking. Unfortunately, this guy is as stubborn as an ox. He wouldn't learn from this experience because he was already thinking about head-butting it like a ram. It seemed like a perfect idea! He even stood on his feet to do so. But when he saw that big Ares guy tackle wall and fail just as badly as he did; Viktor sat back down on his bed. Nope. Bad idea. If a bull, almost two sized bigger than he couldn't do it. Then there was no doubt in his mind that he couldn't do it either.

"Hand will be okay. As long as I do not smash wall again." Viktor groaned his response to his brother. It was unfortunate that brute strength wouldn't be able to budge this door. There had to be another way though. "Glass harder than brick wall." The comparison seemed like a good one. Not that he had ever smashed through a brick wall. After all, he's not the Hulk.

"It is shit!" The Houndoom agreed with his brother. "I want out but no. Door decide to keep us in like itty bitty mice in cage. I hate mice as I hate cage." He wrinkled his nose.

Gareth was also relieved that Effie wasn't a crazy person like the two brothers were. If he were stuck with one of them, he'd have to find a way to silence them-without killing them. And that would seem quite difficult. Especially since both seem to be quite stubborn and tough natured. He paused his side-tracked thoughts when she brought up the odd situation. "You're right. It is rather odd." He rubbed his chin, thinking more. "Usually when people are held captive, they're placed in dark gloomy cells that are damp and full of rodents and bugs. The only things they have to sleep on, if they were lucky, would be a rock bed or a pile of moldy hay. Or they would be chained to the walls and unable to move about as they feel." He paused for another brief moment. "Strange."

Gareth made a quick glance over to her and sighed. "I cannot say that I am complaining with their rather odd hospitality. I am rather quite thankful that we're not being cooped up in a depressing dungeon cell. But you do bring up several valid points." He frowned at the thought of this whole thing being a trap. It seemed very likely that it was. "It's the calming before the storm. Rest up, relax, feel safe. Then the storm hits and leaves you tormented and ruined. Seems like an ideal plot for this group of kidnappers."

He too felt bad that he was being rather pessimistic over the event. It was ruining his mojo! "Whatever the case may be, I guess we will have to wait and see what there is to be dished out. Be alert and aware of your surroundings. Keep an eye out on any useful ways of escaping. Whether it be; what the guards use to open the doors, air vents, weaknesses in the walls or security. Anything would be useful." He wasn't used to being placed into these kinds of situations.

The thud came from Ares' room and Gareth glanced over. "So... The glass doors are unbreakable. How depressing." He walked over to their door and spoke through it. "We are all trapped here. After seeing the failed attempts of busting it down, I am more than positive that it is not the right way to break free."

"No shit sherlock holmes." Viktor growled at Gareth.

Gareth shrugged at the snarky remark from Viktor. He was already on Gareth's list of people he wasn't fond of. The Houndoom was dumber than he looked. And it was quite depressing to think that way, considering how smart his brother was. "Alright. Do you have a better idea of breaking free?"

"Use your face against glass. Break easy." Viktor snapped.

"Hmm..." Gareth turned away from the angered guy. There was no need to antagonize him further more. It was only going to result in him trying to bash his head against the wall. The thought didn't seem bad though. At least it may knock the Houndoom out.

"Lovely bunch of people we are stuck with huh? It will certainly keep things interesting." Gareth said to Effie.