LOBBY - E2 - Catching Up (Prompt Submission)

Illume's attention stayed focused on the front of the room as the Leader turns to address them all. Above the hushed chatter that droned through the room, questions gradually echo forward piecing together an interesting tale of what happened prior to their release.

At least, it should have been interesting. Illume felt a pang of irritation when she glanced over to look at Pain only to see that it had all but vanished. With a sigh, the Chinchou scans the room and soon locates her companion accosting some poor… blue- slime? Creature? Whatever it was, it sure was loud. Another unfortunate victim of easing the ghosts boredom no doubt.

At least she was good at dividing her attention. She could monitor her ghost and the front of the room at the same time. The story being pieced together by the leading group was certainly an interesting tale too.

It appears that it had been approximately one year since the Lab initially went up in flames. That was quite a long time they were dormant in the PC and explained the disorientation they all experiences upon release. With that in mind, it was also no wonder some in the room were acting a bit… energetic-

~~~

"YOU!" The Milcery growls, flailing her nubby limbs about in a frenzy at the spirit floating circles above her. "You stupid evil thieving FREAK! LOOK AT WHAT YOU DID!"

"What did I do?" Pain laughs, floating round and round the smaller pokemon. It was thrilled beyond reason that everything it did actually worked. They left her alone! She survived! "I didn't do any of this, Dolly. I'm just as lost as you are."

"Oh yes you did!" The Milcery puffs up in indignant rage. "You know exactly what you did-! Don't play stupid with me!"

~~~

The Misdreavus taking charge explains that she was a rogue subject who seemed to slowly build her grouping by pulling essential Pokemon from the storage system.

'Smart.' Illume thinks to herself, nodding at the choice. Too large of a group could cause problems, and allies that lacked proper skills would only be dead weight in the long run. The team looked quite good. One looked combat oriented, another was long and likely good at squeezing into tight spaces. The third was large and almost humanoid, but radiated a gentle aura that might lean it toward having healing moves.

All in all, a very well balanced group.

Though Illume was equally as curious toward the argument happening behind her now. Pain was far more trouble than they were worth, sure. But that's quite the hefty accusation for the little bloblet to throw around given their current circumstances.

~~~

"Are you really still mad about those sweets?" Pain asks, letting out a echoing cackle as it pokes a paw right into the goopy cream of the smaller pokemon. It's skin tingles in turn. "That was soooooo long ago at this point. Besides I already told you- I did it for your own good, little Dollop."

"My own good? MY OWN GOOD?! HOW WAS ANY OF THIS FOR MY OWN GOOD!?" Dollop howls, outraged as she smacks the ghosts paw away from her. When she feels eyes on her from around the room, she lowers her voice once more. "That sweet was my ticket out of here but you went and ruined everything!"

"No it wasn't. That sweet was your ticket to a life of being cut to pieces like the last one they gave those things to." The Duskull corrects, finally sinking to the floor where they cross their arms and shake their head disapprovingly. "You really should be thanking me. If I didn't interfere with their plans, you really would have just become another donor to be cut up-"

"You went and messed with all the sweet machines and broke them-"

"I didn't break them! I just pulled out some parts while messing around so they couldn't bake more-"

"That messing around must have caused the fire that burnt the lab down-"

"I did it two whole days before the fire broke out! Not like you'd know the difference, being stuck in isolation and all. I thought they'd have moved you outta there when I messed with those panels a week before…"

That really seems to set the Milcery off as her voice rises once more. "I WOULD HAVE BEEN OUT OF ISOLATION IF YOU NEVER SHOWED UP AT ALL! I WOULD HAVE EVOLVED AND THEY WOULD HAVE TAKEN ME SOMEPLACE ELSE!"

~~~

Illume lets out a short huff, deciding enough was enough. This wasn't the time for a fight to break out. What on earth was Pain even thinking? They're lucky they weren't listed as rogue after a stunt like that. The researchers would have thrown a right fit and terminated it on the spot.

Though in all honesty, it didn't matter anymore. For whatever reason, no humans had dared to return to the Labs to begin reconstruction or retrieve the experiments still there. One whole year human free. That's what the pokemon up front said and the state of the lab corroborates it. Arguing about the past, who did or didn't do something to displease humans, wouldn't solve anything. The humans weren't a relevant factor anymore. In fact, they were likely the sole source of the Labs current state. Humans were rarely a source of anything but negative cause and effect.

It was time for Illume to play mediator before someone else beat her to it. There were just too many wrong ideas one could get, and wrong ideas could build hostile feelings very fast. She didn't need a target on her back because of her affiliation with one singular Pain in the ass that failed to understand when it needed to behave.

~~~

Pain doesn't look impressed. They did everything they could to explain why they did it, but nothing was sticking. It was so frustrating! "Yeah. You would have been taken to a processing area and been used for parts like the others. They wouldn't have even saved you if you were stuck in that room either. All the harvesting subjects were C to D grades with a useful ability. I went and rescued the most important parts of them before I was caught."

The Milcery shakes her body, voice wavering as tears formed at her eyes. "You're wrong-"

"Dolly I told you already, the researchers were bad news!"

"They weren't bad news, they were the only ones who could save us and they still can-"

"If the humans wanted to save us then we wouldn't still be stuck here-"

"Pain." Illume announces, finally making her way over to the duo. The ghost quickly turns to face her. "Enough of that. This one is stressed enough as is."

As she spoke, her lures began flashing.

... - --- .--. / -.-. .- ..- ... .. -. --. / .- / ... -.-. . -. . .-.-.- / - .... .. ... / .. ... / .... . .-.. .--. .. -. --. / -. --- / --- -. . .-.-.-

The demeanor change was immediate. Pain was up and away from the smaller pokemon in seconds, appearing at her side to float obediently in place. Illume casts one glance up before looking down at the smaller blob shaped pokemon.

"I understand that Pain has been living up to it's name, but I think you need to stop clinging to those human-centric delusions of yours. Evolution would never make you special in their eyes, because you are just a product like the rest of us." The Chinchou explains in an almost bored tone. Some of these newer experiments certainly had an 'optimistic' view of their situation. "If you two had the sense to stop arguing and start listening, you would have known that the humans haven't been back in a year. No human will come to save you, or anyone else here for that matter. If we were worth anything to them, they would have taken us with them. Throwing a tantrum solves nothing and does not change the facts of the situation."

Illume watches as the smaller pokemon sinks to the floor, body practically melting as she lets out a pathetic little whimper. One might want to offer some words of comfort to stop the sniveling, but Illume never had much sympathy to begin with. The facts were worth far more than empty words. Though, it certainly didn't stop Pain's bleeding heart from reaching out to try and push the pokemon back into an appropriate shape.

"Ume, I don't think that's very nice or helpful to say."

"Helpful, let alone kindness, was never my intention. I'm giving a pragmatic view of the situation to someone who clearly needs it. Crying is a weakness one really shouldn't show in front of a room of unknowns." Illume retorts, looking down at the goopy mess of a pokemon spread before her.

"While it's hard for you to stomach, I can promise you that Pain is not a liar when it comes to those they actually value. If they went through the trouble of interfering with an experiment to that degree despite the risks it poses to their safety, then that means whatever was planned for you was heinous enough to drive them to throw caution to the wind. Otherwise, I highly doubt they would have butted in at all."

"Hey- I mighta still done something no matter what! Meeting Dolly just made the choice a bit easier." Pain objects, holding up two paw-fulls of Milcery before they slap the pieces in place. They prolly should have thought this through more. Dolly just was not becoming… well, Dolly shaped again. "The souls over there were miserable. A soul shouldn't be a bitter, sad and broken little thing. It needs passion. It needs energy and drive to make it bright and vibrant and actually last instead of crumbling away as soon as it leaves the body. Anything less should be a crime! If I didn't float in, Dolly would wind up suffering the same way all the others did until her shattered soul left her."

Illume suppresses the urge to roll her eyes and instead offers an exasperated little smile. "Spare me your romanticist rambling about souls. You instinctually siphon the life energy of everyone around you all the same, regardless of their state of well being."

The ghost stops trying to re-constitute its friend and glowers up at it's aquatic companion. "I think more empathy and whimsy would do you some good. You're completely missing the point of what I do and why I do it."

"You follow basal instinct and dress it up in a thin veil of altruism that you distinctly lack in regards to the living. I think you need to stop playing with your… friend, like they're some manner of toy if you want to give that argument any validity. They need to pick themselves up. The world will not pity the weak, and neither should we."

"…… The living aren't half as fragile as the dying and deceased. They can stand to be shaken and mushed up every now and then. Maybe it's the push she needs to get up."

Dollop for her part, just sat there and listened. Even if all she wanted to do was melt away with her tears. As much as she hated to admit it, the fish had a point. Or well, she had a lot of points. Dollop thought things would have gotten better when she was removed from her batch, but all it did was leave her so lonely. She was just out of reach of others of her kind, blocked by a glass wall. She tried everything she could to be good for the researchers, but they didn't want anything to do with her except testing and more testing. Pain was the first being to really try to get to know her… even if they were an awful and mean prankster that liked messing with her. Maybe it meant something… maybe it didn't.

"Come on Dolly. Do something." Pain urges, slapping the Milcery's gelatenous body around. "You cant stay mad about all this forever. Especially now that everythings changed."

It says this, but evolving was something special to her. She saw the other Milcery become beautiful from her container. The Lab assistants loved it when one evolved to have wonderful purple and cream colours. They spoke nice things to them before sending their batches off to meet humans who would love them. Dollop knew she was different, but that must mean her evolution would be extra special. Why else would they keep her in a container for 'contamination risk' if not to make sure she would have a perfect evolution like all the others?

Crying in a puddle wouldn't fix what she lost or solve her problems. She did need to get up and face everything head on.

Dollop's body rejoins to a cohesive form in seconds, though she can't stop the sniffling. Just because she would face the world, didn't make it any less scary. She was here with that stupid ghost and a mean fish and a bunch of strangers that just kept saying bad and worse things. This was the perfect time to cry.

"Oh, good. You're back together." Illume nods in approval before turning back to the front of the room. "Maybe now you two can start listening to the ones up front? You missed a lot of important information."

"What did they say?" Pain asks, floating up to get a better view of the room.

"The latest revalation is that we aren't alone here." Illume explains, getting surprised looks from the two in front.

"S-so the humans will come back after all?!" Dollop asks, feeling a small burst of hope. Humans meant safety. They might fic the labs and make it better. They might even brink more sweets and finally let her achieve her dream of evolving and show everyone just how wonderful it would be-

"No humans. Our neighbors are fellow subjects like us. Though… they seem to have quite the head start on adapting to the state of this place over us."

As the Leader stated, other subjects wandered these halls. It would seem that conflicts between groups and factions was inevitable in a place with limited resources. The Leader spoke of how her group's numbers waned. Leaving them in their current state, down some members. But don't worry. Everyone was safe now because the bad pokemon were out there, and we were all cozy behind locked doors.

Supposedly.

"I don't really trust all of that." Pain remarks, looking at the blood trail. "One year is a lot of time to train. What's stopping someone from breaking in and eating us all like snacks?"

"A-are we all gonna die?" Dollop hiccups, already turning back into a miserable slime pile as she looks around. "I don't wanna die here-"

"Hmph…" Illume huffs, deep in thought as she tossed the new information around in her head. It was on her to take charge of this rag-tag school, meaning she needed to make sure she had all the necessary information before giving any verdict on the situation.

Only a fool would take the words of a stranger at face value. Though a rogue subject certianly would have a better grasp on the overall picture. Those who wandered the walls always had better insight into the state of affairs. This Leader was like Pain in that regard, even more being rogue and thus even freer. Yet even with their assurances, there was still no telling what could happen or how well this cramped refuge could serve them in the long run. Things like food and water woule be essential resources for survival, yet this room looked to be thuroughly cleared of anything that could be of use and lacked facilities necessary to support them in the long run. How were they expected to navigate these drastic changws when the outside was clearly rife with dangers?

Right now, the subjects the subjects pulled from storage were all weak. Too weak and unskilled in the art of survival to be of real use. But surely they weren't all taken out without reason?

Illume had a multitude of questions of her own, but decided to voice the most pressing one. If they were brought out, then there must be both a reason and a plan. Even if that plan was using them all as fodder against stronger foes.

"What is the plan moving foreward? What outcomes can we expect to see now that we are out?" She asks, voice struggling to raise above the chatter that picked back up

One look at the sideway glance the Leader gave her fellows told Illume part of what she needed to know, and it left a bad taste in her mouth. There wasn't a plan. In all honesty, the way those at the front scanned over the group, they likely never intended for this many pokemon to join them. They too were struggling to imagine a way to make this work.

"Moving forward... our main goal for now will be to train anyone who can, on how to survive and collect food for everyone as we work on escaping here... But to start-"

The Leader cuts off, looking back at the PC that came back to life. The screen glows and contorts in what Illume assumes might be it readying to spit out even more experiments unprompted.

So that's how it was. The PC was bugged. They were now all out, and going back into stasis for suevival likely was no longer a viable option.

Wonderful

"Well… I guess that answers the most pressing questions. But there sre a lot of issues left unaddressed." Illume sighs, shutting her eyes for a brief moment before opening them again. Answers should come in due time. At the minimum, she at least knew where her priorities should lie.

"W-what does it mean?" Dolly asks, looking up expectantly. Pain stays silent, instead looking toward Illume. "What do we have to do?"

"Well, it means that our survival will largely be dependent on ourselves. They never meant to drag out this many useless low level experiments." The Chinchou explains in a level tone, deciding there was no point mincing words with niceties. The difference between them was quite significant, and not just in survival experience. The level gap was noticeable even from afar. If the ones who brought them all in suffered losses where they stood, then someone like her would be nothing more than easy prey to whatever lay beyond the doors. One year was a lot of time to get stronger, everyone else was severely behind.

"We have little other choice but to follow the direction of the strong until we reach a level high enough to stray from the group. Those of us who fail to adapt to our new environment and circumstances will undoubtedly perish first, and any missteps will be rid of the rest." She motions towafd the bloodstain on the floor. "We must move with purpose going forward, while retaining the utmost caution toward our surroundings until we know exactly who we can trust."

"B-but who is there to trust? I-I don't know anyone here?" Dollop asks, voice small as she looks out across the room. She didn't know what most of these pokemon even were, let alone what would make one trustworthy.

"Well… you know me!" Pain announces triumphantly before bringing a paw to pat Illume on the head. "And I know Ume! Put us together and that's three!"

"Blegh-" Dolly sticks her tongue out, wishing she had better options. Sure Pain was fine enough… but they were so un-serious. The fish had the opposite problem.

"Oh? You're trustworthy now? That's news to me." Illume remarks, smacking the paw off of her head with a fin. "Last I heard, you did nothing but harass this poor blob creature. That makes one questionable pokemon, and one floating pest who has a lot to prove to their 'friend'."

"I'm a Milcery."

"She's a Milcery."

It takes one look to shut them both up. "If you two got along so well, then why did I need to waste my time coming over to shut you up?"

Her lures give a different warning.

-.. --- / -. --- - / --. . - / --- -. / -- -.-- / -. . .-. ...- . ...

The Duskull looks taken back for a moment, before slumping forward. "Urgh- ok, ok. Sorry Ume. I'll try to focus."

Dollop just looks at the ground, clearly unsure what to say or do.

"You better. I have high expectations for you given your ability to move through walls and the like." Illume warns before turning back to the Milcery on the floor. She extends a lure, gently tapping the Cream pokemon on the head before pulsing her lights in a slow rhythm. "While it will not be of much comfort, I will do what I can to teach you how to survive since Pain will undoubtedly insist upon it. But I will not coddle you, for tending others is not my nature. You need to rise up and prove to the world you will use everything at your disposal to live despite our circumstances. Only then will we stand together as equals."

Dollop takes a deep breath before looking up. "O-ok. I'll try."