Blaguarro Town Terminal Two Holding Cells

[Cresselia92]

At long last that stupid alarm had shut up, and Silver relished immensely hearing its last sputtering screeches as soon as he slammed his rock-smashing fist through the battery! Because gods, that thing was almost as annoying as those stupid garish-looking Persian statues and their stupid get-a-grunt-here-for-a-free-battle gimmick.

“Ah, sweet peace, at last…” he whispered as he rushed back to the others, proud of his handiwork. But then came the screams and yells of the panicked prisoners, making him frown in concern and study the various cages. “Aaand never mind that! What’s the deal now?”

By judging the way they thrashed inside their cages, it was painfully obvious that the alarm and the tussle had unnerved most prisoners and made them far more aggressive. There… was no way to get them out safely for as long as they were dominated by their shadowy emotions!

Soon, a pleasant melody mixed with the panicked shrieks, and Silver turned to observe Kimiko. The Snivy’s voice rang with the familiar thrum of Radiance, and the now-Sneasel himself began feeling… calmness. A sweet, soothing calmness.

But Kimiko was only one voice, and the screams came from multiple ‘mons, nearly drowning hers. If only there was a megaphone around! Or… maybe an entourage? Who could offer that?

…Oh. Darn. He was gonna do that, huh?

Swallowing his pride and embarrassment, Silver reached out to Kimiko…

Silver used Assist and linked with Kimiko…

Scale. Pitch. Harmony. An entire repertoire of musical knowledge swirled inside his mind, ready to pour out. However, something was missing — Radiance.

He hated how he felt when he touched that bright sun. How his morality and self-control blurred and vanished in a flash. The sensation of losing himself to that awful feeling… What if it happened again?

But those prisoners… he couldn’t simply do nothing. They needed his help, and he couldn’t let his self-control and hesitation get in the way. Not now. Not ever!

The conviction that Luz mentioned earlier… it led him to willpower.

That same force that gave him the strength to face off aliens from another dimension. That same willingness to sacrifice himself to protect someone he cared for. That same purity that drew Ho-Oh in and connected their souls together.

Silver closed his eyes and placed a paw on his chest. It felt warm.

Radiance began filling Silver’s heart and soul, and he forced himself to use…

Silver took a deep breath, reminding himself his favorite song from DJ Fern, and then… he began singing heartily. It felt kinda nice to let go for once.

…Radiant Sing!

 

[Magyk]

Grace smiled softly, flapping towards Reno in the cell. "I'm sorry it came to this, Shadowed One. Let me try to help you," she said, eyes glowing as she looked upon the noctowl. Another pool of watery light formed in her paws as she spread it towards Reno, and she wondered just how many down here needed to be soothed and helped.

Grace used Radiant Life Dew on Reno!

Could she do it? Save all of them?

She was absolutely going to try.

 

[Panoramic_Vacuum]

Steven watched as Grace approached a cage with one of the fully shadowed prisoners inside. He was about to call out to her to be careful, but then she started to glow, and amazingly, the maschiff began to calm. Steven's eyes widened. She'd done it! With... Radiance?

But before he could ponder this new development any further, an exclamation from Mav stole his attention.

The Dodrio was plopped on the floor like a petulant child, each head turned a different way in defiance.

"Mav, please," Steven implored, "We're not leaving Reno, I told you, but these people need to be evacuated, and--" he grated a noise of annoyance as Mav continued to stonewall. "There's no time for this!"

He shot one last pleading look towards Mav, and when it went nowhere, he gave up and floated over to where Grace hovered in front of Reno's cell. Stubborn bird; the both of them, if Reno's squawking was any indication.

How could they convince Mav that they put Reno out of commission for his own good? It wasn't like the guard had offered them the keys. The path to saving the prisoners was always going to go through Reno, as long as he was married to doing his job.

Grace worked her soothing powers, and he fixed Reno with an apologetic look, waiting-- hoping-- for the Radiance to take hold and calm him.

"I'm sorry, we didn't mean to be so rough," he began. "It's true, you were just doing your job. Maybe a little too well," Steven said with a small chuckle.

"You don't have to listen to us, or take our word for it at all. But can't you see what it is you're guarding? Do you really want to work for an organization who would do this to people? To you?"

 

[Phoenixsong]

God damn it. Leaf wanted to bang her head against the bars. "We're trying to help you," she hissed, glaring at the noctowl. "The hell are we supposed to do that if you're setting off alarms to call down more of the people who did this to you?"

She huffed and paced away from Reno's cell, tail swishing irritably, light still sparking behind her eyes. This wasn't working, why wasn't it working, they still had so much to do, why didn't he understand? Why was he so eager to double down for a bunch of lowlifes when his own friends were here—

He thought Mav had left him to this, didn't he. He hadn't been some kind of asshole getting on everyone's nerves anyway, like Joe. He thought Blaguarro had abandoned him down here, and this was all he had left.

Oh, my. That does sound familiar, now, doesn't it?

Shut up. It's not the same. (It'd better not be.) The feeling of lightning racing under her skin was slowing down, sort of. The pain in her hind leg was coming back, sort of, ow, dammit. Reno had to be held responsible for what he had done down here, but if he was actually a decent person under there then that'd come with time. He wasn't gonna have that time if they didn't get him out of here first, though. Seemed like that was a problem that Leaf couldn't fix—the absolute worst kind of problem there was, how dare it, zero stars—but there was someone else here who could. Needed to, maybe.

Leaf left Reno to Grace and Steven for now (they were probably gonna be more patient with someone like him, anyway) and turned her attention to Mav. She'd thought the dodrio was going to go; they needed to get the others out of here. If they weren't, okay, fine, but then they needed to be doing something. "You wanna help Reno get out of this place? Then go over there and help him get out of this place." No radiance tingeing her voice this time—okay, could've still been a little, but not much—just exasperation. (Desperation, maybe.) "'Course he isn't gonna believe us after we had to put him in time out, but he just told me you being here doesn't count for anything, either. Aren't you supposed to be his relief? To watch out for him? If he really thinks you left him alone to get grabbed, then either set him straight if you didn't or own up to it and fix it if you did. Gonna mean a lot more coming from a friend than from us, either way."

 

[RJr3:2]

Aige watched Silver and Kimiko start singing blankly, half listening to Steven's attempts to talk to Reno as well as Leaf's appeal to Mav.

The battle was over already? To some extent, it was almost anticlimactic.

No, this is about right, Aige thought. Since they're just experimenting on pokemon and releasing them, then these prisoners have no inherent value to Cipher. If anything, they're the most useful as bait.

The Roggenrola looked around at the others fretting over the prisoners.

Right about now would be a good time if anyone was watching. Hah.

The Roggenrola sidled up to a wall. "Um, there's not much I can help with right now, so I'll just be a lookout," she said, a bit quietly. She wasn't expecting to be heard, but she figured it was good practice anyway.

I hope the other teams are alright.

 

[Inkedust]

"Ya think I want to do this?" Reno snapped back voice shrill. He calmed slightly at the Life Dew but still remained irate as he focused on Leaf's words. "I'm fuckin' desperate and had my wings twisted by Joe there. It's either this or the fucking hell downstairs. You know what that shit's like? Not being able to breathe as they turn ya into one of those beasts!? And look at you! Treating me like one of them! How is that helping?"

Mav huffed at the Wayfarers' words, sounding like an upset chicken. "Ya didn't have to do that," M grumbled. "Reno's a proud one but willin' to listen if you make a good point. Humiliate him like ya just did though and he ain't gonna give any of y'all the time of day."

A rested his head on their back. "Might listen to us though," he muttered, "but don't expect much help from him. He ain't gonna tell you anything in one of his moods." A mood that was heavily exaggerated through being a Shadow, no less.

"Just give me the damn keys," V grunted. "I'll talk to him but I ain't helping out no more if this happens again, ya hear?"

Tala and Anite watched the dodrio impartially, the latter looking down the long hallway. "There's a lot more down there," Anite said. "Calmin' all these ones is nice an' all but best not overextend. Come on." The two large pokémon began making their way down the hall, Tala still carrying the lantern.

Many of the prisoners near the entrance had now fully calmed thanks to the team's efforts and seemed cautiously optimistic at the prospect of escape. Tala had even allowed the skorupi out of its cage, allowing it to climb up her arm to rest on her shoulder as the kommo-o walked.

 

[Hap]

Ridley hesitated.

Anite was right that they needed to move on if they wanted to save as many people as possible, but Reno's words had caught in Ridley like a fishhook. He'd fallen into the trap of thinking of Cipher's goons as - well, as goons, as generic cartoon bad guys with no motivation beyond evil for evil's sake. But they were people.

People in a shitty situation, scared and angry, with shadow amplifying every worst impulse and with the only choices they could see being between inflicting suffering or experiencing it...

Maybe that wasn't true for all of them, but it was true for Reno. Ridley had only made it through his own shadow affliction as well as he had because he'd been surrounded by the Wayfarers. If he'd been trapped with Cipher instead... he might not have made Reno's choices, but that said nothing about Ridley's inherent moral fibre or capacity for self-sacrifice, and everything about the way the shadow energy had made him hate himself.

It would be smarter to move on, but Ridley couldn't force himself to go without at least trying to say something.

"You can't hurt people and then complain that we're treating you like a member of the group which hurts people," he said, which, great beginning there Ridley! He took a breath. "But I know how shadows feel. I know how it feels to be consumed. To feel like you're drowning on dry land. To have all the worst parts of yourself pulled out of their hiding places and laid bare. I made it through because people were willing to help me. Even though they had no reason to, even though they could have left me behind or told me I deserved what I was going through, they helped me instead."

Koa, stubbornly refusing to allow Ridley to lose himself in battle. Wes, offering advice to an idiot he had every right to despise. Steven, choosing to trust Ridley and carry him into the frozen area despite what he'd seen Ridley do.

"We're here - in this facility, in this world - because we want to help people. And we'll help you too, if you let us."

He turned and followed after Anite and Tala, his small size making him break into a jog to catch up.

 

[Cresselia92]

“—This is all from ‘Let’s Sing, Everybody!’, your favorite radio show in Kanto from your favorite DJ, Fern! Thanks for tuning in with us, and until next time! ♪” And with a dramatic twirl, made even more effortless by his Radiant daze, Silver turned to the prisoners and bowed, his tail shaking contentedly and his body still shivering with excess mustelid electricity.

Now that the impromptu performance was out of the way, the breathless Silver plopped down on the floor and panted deeply, his grumbling spite and burst of overconfidence slowly shimmering down. Clarity rushed in, and with it came realization, and with realization came an overwhelming wide-eyed embarrassment.

Did he really start singing like that, in the middle of a stinking and dark prison, as if he were the protagonist of some childish cartoon? And the worst thing was that it worked!? Like, yeah, it was a good thing that the prisoners felt better, but still! Aaargh, his ego was so losing its freaking mind!

“I… By the gods, did I really…? I just, and like, a-and…” he mumbled meekly, holding his claws over his mouth while doing his best to ignore his burning cheeks. He wasn’t gonna live that down, was he?

Grinning nervously, Silver looked at Kimiko and gave her a claws-up in approval. “Um… G-good job, Kimiko! You… really sing good!”

Still flustered, he gave a quick glance at his other teammates to acknowledge them. “Y-yeah, huh! Give the key to Mav! He can, y’know, release the other prisoners and lead them outside, now that they’re calmer, and…”

He trailed off, realizing that his voice was more high-pitched than normal, and facepalmed in dismay. Yeah, it’s official — Radiance is messed up and sucks so badly!

“Just… let’s finish the job and get outta this horrible place! Okay?!” he exclaimed in a last effort to reclaim his aloof and determined mystique, then began running after Anite and Tala. He stopped, turned back to the others, and exclaimed one last statement, “By the way, what I just did never happened! Are we cool with that? Cool!!”

And he resumed running after the two bigger Pokémon.

 

[Panoramic_Vacuum]

"Fine, we'll leave him to you," Steven said to Mav, happy to leave the two birds to hash things out between them. It seemed there was something more to their history than he would understand. However, it was getting hard to ignore the warmth swelling in his chest as he fought down the frustration in his voice.

"Just know that while we are not here to hurt anyone, I will not hesitate to neutralize any threat to us getting all of these people out of here safely."

To think that Mav was willing to jeopardize the safety of so many lives over their treatment of one guard. They were deep in enemy territory. Reno was either with them or against them, it was that simple.

Steven took a moment to compose himself. While he'd been focused on trying to get some of the prisoners evacuated, which now it seemed would have to wait, the rest of the group had done wonders in calming the more agitated prisoners still waiting their turn. He gave vocal duo a grateful smile.

But that smile quickly faded as Anite and Tala pressed onward into the darkness. Their work was far from done; there was more to this hellish prison. He should know, the list was still far too long.

Wordlessly, he floated after the them, making sure to give Tala and her new friend a generous berth.

 

[Shadow Serenity]

"Might listen to us though," he muttered, "but don't expect much help from him. He ain't gonna tell you anything in one of his moods."

Kimiko paused her singing for a brief moment - Silver seemed to have picked up on it somehow, anyway - to snap back at Mav. "We don't need him to tell us anything right now, just get him out of here!"

She turned to Reno, debating if she should say something. She was sympathetic to him, sure, but they didn't have time for his temper tantrum... and then Ridley spoke up anyway. "He's right," she added. "We'll help you too, but you have to let us, and right now, we don't have time to argue it. Just... go with Mav and get out of here. Please."

Grinning nervously, Silver looked at Kimiko and gave her a claws-up in approval. “Um… G-good job, Kimiko! You… really sing good!”

Silver had finished his performance while she'd been distracted. She turned to him and offered a grin and a nod. "Oh, thank you! Lots of practice. You're not bad, either! The twirl-and-bow was a nice touch."

As he said, though, the prisoners here had been calmed down nicely - whether from her and Silver's duet or Grace's life dew. No sign of Seth's 'vees, however. She made to follow Anite, Tala, and the rest of the party further in, keeping her eyes open for further guards.

And as she did, she warned, "Can we not go in there screaming our intentions this time, please?"

 

[Phoenixsong]

Leaf scowled. Of course it was horrible that Cipher was threatening and torturing them. Who the hell was arguing that it wasn't? Didn't excuse Mav pouting like a whiny baby instead of actually standing up for their friend. Didn't excuse what Reno had done, didn't excuse what he was doing.

She didn't say anything, though. Just left them to it, ignored the feeling of a cold, judgmental stare on the back of her neck because it wasn't even there, buzz off. Instead she swept down the hall after Anite and Tala. Focus on what to do next, on the other pokémon that still needed them. Focus on the people who were actually here and helping. Focus on anything useful, anyone else.

"Forget it happened, huh," she said to Silver, her tone airy. "Sure, I bet I can rattle that out of my head, no problem. Before I do, though, thought I'd mention that it sounded pretty good." She shot him a teasing wink, gave her head an exaggerated shake, and strode past him toward the front of the group.

 

[Magyk]

"You shouldn't hide the things you're good at," Grace said as her glowing eyes fell on Silver for a moment, then she turned her attention onwards. "Many more need to be soothed and rescued, we have to go onwards. No more stalling."

 

[Inkedust]

Keys in beak, approached Reno's cell and moved to unlock it. Scrafty watched with eyes narrowed in suspicion but Mav either ignored it or didn't notice. The noctowl was still quite huffy but he seemed to give thought to Ridley's words and his feathers seemed to settle down some as he considered them. He let out a relieved sigh when he heard the door to his cell unlock. "'Course I want help," he said. "Been begging for it the moment I was dragged down here but maybe ya have a point there, ragdoll. You ain't too bad."

Mav walked into the cell, cautious. "Didn't know where you ended up," A said, passing the keys in his beak to M. "Nobody did, not 'till these strangers showed up outta nowhere one day." They sat down to continue talking to Reno, allowing for everyone else to follow Anite and Tala down the hall. They could come back for the keys once they discovered what lay further down the hall.

As Tala and Anite pressed on, they would find subjects who appeared to be under a heavier influence of shadow. Notably, these cells had charts and labels attached to them, listing species, detailing schedules, and the current number of "Units" they have been exposed to, the number increasing incrementally as they reached the bottom until...

Failure. Fevered at 40 Units.

Failure. Fevered at 45 Units.

Failure. Fevered at 37 Units.

Failure. Fevered at 56 Units.

Failure. Fevered at 68 Units.

The notes cut off and just below that, the pokémon within the cage could be seen. They looked to be in a constant state of agony, just a hair-trigger away from losing complete control of themselves. The hall continued for a little while longer although a second hall, to their right was visible. It was short, the only thing there was a partially open door, impossible to see beyond without getting closer to peek through the gap or to open it fully. On it was a simple plaque that just read:

SUBJECT no.341​

A rather ominous setup. Would they dare take a peek?

 

[Shadow Serenity]

The further in they pushed, the more shadowed the victims got. Somehow, Kimiko wasn't surprised. The 'mon in the cages here looked far worse off than those in the prior room... She noted the numbers on the charts. 'Units' must be however Cipher measured shadowfication. So not every 'mon reached... whatever 'fevered' was at the same point, and apparently all of these were meant to handle it better and failed.

She continued inspecting the cages for Seth's 'vees. There was no need to sing at the moment; nothing here was frenzied. Yet. But she knew now that at least it was a tool she had access to, should it come to that.

And then she spotted the door down the short hallway. So far, they hadn't seen any further guards... perhaps this was where they were waiting. Kimiko crept closer; if she could get the jump in them, or sing them to sleep before they even realized the party was there...

"Subject... 341," she muttered quietly to herself. What I wouldn't give to have my 'dex right about now. Her memory wasn't strong enough to recall what pokemon was registered to that pokedex number... on the other hand, there was no reason to believe this world, or even the one Cipher was from, numbered them the same way.

Regardless, perhaps this wasn't a guards room. But even if not, this could be another 'mon they needed to rescue... or another threat they'd need to know about, or perhaps subdue. Kimiko figured her still unevolved form was small enough to let her get a peek inside without disturbing the door if she were careful...

She should probably tell someone, first. Who, here... the metang seemed cautious enough, and had a level head in the Oasis dungeon. "Psst! Steven!" she whispered, trying to catch his attention. "...I think we should check this out. I'm gonna peek inside. Cover me."

Assuming Steven agreed and no one else attempted to stop her, Kimiko would attempt to peek through the opening, careful not to accidentally bump the door.

 

[Magyk]

A soft, warm glow radiated from Grace, who had yet to recover or rest off her Raidance. Her steel gaze was focused on all the labels, frown deepening as she went along with Kimiko and the others. "I should save my energy for the worst-afflicted ones," Grace decided aloud. "They will need more help and will be harder to escape with. Be careful when freeing them, I cannot keep everyone safe at once if they are aggressive."

While the togetic was a little souped up on Radiance, currently, she didn't seem all that uncontrollable. If anything, she just seemed focused and serious right now.

Then her gaze fell on Kimiko, who was a little further down. Her eyes narrowed. "Be careful. Remember the mission."

 

[canisaries]

“Y-yeah, huh! Give the key to Mav! He can, y’know, release the other prisoners and lead them outside, now that they’re calmer, and…”

Andre looked around for the other teammates' reactions, and as they seemed to agree, he gave the keys to the dodrio. He then followed the others down the hall, trotting past mon in worse and worse condition. His jaw clenched as he saw that pain, as his hatred for Cipher grew more and more. He needed to strike back against them. He needed to hurt them. He needed to bring them to justice.

As they came across the highly ominous door, Andre had a mind to barge in himself and attack any guards with the ferocity of a rabid feral, but he knew better than to do that. Instead, he left the task to Kimiko and Steven. Though not before...

"Hold on. I'll boost your defense." He focused his energy and transferred it to the snivy. "There. Good luck."

 

[Jackie Cat]

Sonora nailed the Noctowl. Absolutely thrashed him. What a show! And then, okay, the angels were taking care of the guy now. Alright. Time to find other goons to piledrive! Or Seth's partners! Or anyone she knew who'd been caught and sent down here.

Her eyes glowed gold as she prowled the holding cells, searching, seeking, finding, looking investigating exploring peeking—

She shook her head clear. Saints, that Radiance stuff had a kick to it... She was looking at cage after cage containing pokémon who she'd mentally been checking off in her head as not what she was looking for. Just a second ago it had been like a game, but now her head had cleared and she was looking at the most pitiable wretches, her face falling, her gut wobbling.

She fell back against a far wall of the room and took steadying breaths. There was argument coming from the other side of the room, back where she'd fought the demon guards with the angels. She ground the heels of her palms into her eyes and slunk back to join them.

She returned to find Mav busying himself with the keys to the cells, some of the prisoners quieted down some, and half the rest of the party pressing on to yet more horrors in the dark.

"Well, we sure didn't sign up fer an outdoor picnic," she joked, mostly to herself. "C'mon, lemme at the tip of the spear, yeah?"

Damn, if she'd just had her wits about her, she coulda helped with the talk-down. She was good at that shit. Maybe she'd be able to help out with any other sorry souls drunk on darkness they found further ahead...

---

...Darkness.

She was in the darkness again.

They'd made a mistake. This was a mistake. Just... Just listen.

It wasn't her. They had the wrong person. By mistake.

Listen. Listen to her. She wasn't who they wanted.

They weren't listening.

Nobody was listening.

Nobody could hear her.

Listen.

...

She'd have to bite her way free.​

 

[Cresselia92]

As Silver walked deeper into the prison, his other teammates commented about his singing, and they seemed… genuinely impressed by his skills? Another warm wave flushed into his cheeks, but he kept his flusterment in check with a tiny grin.

“Oh, hm… Thanks?” he whispered shyly to his teammates, keeping his gaze downward and tapping his claws together. “I… just did what I could to help. Nothing more than that.”

Soon, they reached the lower floor, where the prisoners seemed stuck in a perpetual state of never-ending nightmares and suffering. By the gods… oh, yeah, only they could tell what kinda horrors those prisoners were constantly experiencing!

Silver stared in numb shock at the various cages, the bile burning in his throat and his claws tingling with acidic venom. His movements were slow, cautious, hyper-alert, almost expecting someone to pounce from the darkness and drag the group into that same limbo of shadows — stripped of their personhood, turned into specimens, seen as nothing more than failures, failures, failures! But aren't you a failure already?

“Those DAMNED SCUMBAGS!!” he growled in a burst of rage, scowling at the various labels attached to the cages and his shadowed spite bubbling once more underneath his skin. “Cipher bastards! ALL OF 'EM!! It's the Cinnabar accident all over again!”

They were so many people, too many, so far gone down the deep end. Whatever horrifying practices Cipher had done, it was clear those monstrous scientists had scarred those 'failures' for good. Bodies, minds, maybe even their very souls, tarnished by shadows.

"… What can we do 'bout them?" he asked to nobody in particular while gazing at the cages, his voice tinging with concern as his anger subdued slightly. "Like, we could free 'em and we oughta do that, of course! But then what? Where should we take 'em so that they aren't a danger for others and for themselves?"

That thought needed to be temporarily pushed aside, however, as the now-Sneasel noticed the door at the end of the corridor. Subject 341…

"Well, isn't that promising and absolutely nothing to be worried about!" he quipped with a glare, stepping closer to the door and his ears twitching in curiosity. Wary of whatever creature hid behind the door, he held out his claws defensively in front of his face, then stared intently at Kimiko. "Can you see anything?"

 

[Inkedust]

From where the group stood, they would see that the room was small and dark, the silhouette of a cage situated against the back wall was barely visible. It was lined with thick glass on all sides and appeared to be large enough to house a medium-sized pokemon although it was impossible to see Subject 341 at the angle the Wayfarers were looking into the room from. Beside the cage was a table that held piles of notes and documents, likely bearing similar notes and statistics to the caged pokémon although far more detailed and extraneous based on how many there were.

Just why was this pokémon separated from the rest? Extreme aggression? A higher tolerance or intolerance to the Shadowification process? Or was Subject 341 special in some way shape or form? There was only one way to know for certain.

Did the Wayfarers dare to enter and find out?

 

[Magyk]

Grace's glowing gaze hardened on Silver, and she frowned at him. "You should not behave like the ones we are trying to save," she pointed out softly, reaching out for him with her radiant healing. "Breathe, Teammate, we will rescue them. Your anger is justified, but I cannot allow it to control you."

She drifted over to him, and the life dew forming in her hands was brighter than the last one, and her eyes brightened in turn. The togetic gently pressed the watery orb of light against Silver's arm, and immediately he was hit with the same soothing and cleansing aura that Grace had been applying to the more agitated rescues. It was like being blanketed in a homely warmth that reminded him of better, happier times.

Save them.

Save them.

Save them all.

You're the only one that can do it!

With a flinch, Grace raised a paw to her head. "N-Ngh..!" she gasped, eyes flickering as she tried to stabilize herself.