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[The Quiet Zubat]

Premise:
https://pokecharms.com/threads/test-tube.19681/#post-644643

The building was blacked-out except for the flashes of broken electrical equipment. Emergency fire sprinklers had lost their water pressure and only dripped lightly onto the warped catwalks and flooded concrete. Sounds of unknown creatures set a sinister tone; screeches, roars, hissing, huffing, moaning.

What is going on...what...where am I?...w-who am I? One monster thought to themself. A confused conscious, unsure of age, gender, species, more than one voice in their head giving conflicting images. A clear memory of seeing her reflection on the surface of a pond, she was surely a Lycanrock, yet in another memory he was without a doubt an icy Sandslash. "Goodbye, Fluffy" they remembered their trainer saying sternly, without any hint of care...Fluffy...my name must be Fluffy..but..no..."Skeeter, this is the last straw!" another master had said. Skeeter...

Between flashes of blue, electric light, they could see puffy seams all over their body. The perfect, surgical lines were crisscrossed by stitches and a burning sensation covered them from head to toe. The scent of singed flesh and wet fur permeated the area. There was a frigid chill in the air, something or someone had blown a hole through a cinder block wall, exposing the facility to the icy wind of a tundra landscape.

Fluffy...S-skeeter...Fluff..Skee...Flufski? All that occupied the creature's mind was their name, their identity. "What am I?" They whispered huskily through a foreign yet familiar voice.

 

[E.K.A.N.S.]

This dream was so potent and unpredictable that the creature's entire brain flushed.

"Nixie's down! Clear a path!"

Were the screeches, roars, and moans coming from the army of hard-hatted men? Were they really so bloodthirsty? Or was the creature waking up and hearing real noises? Perhaps it was a weird mix of both, reality feeding into the fantasy, intensifying what was already going on in the dream.

Whatever balance there was between the dream world and the waking world was upset, however, when the monster found itself staring into a black abyss, seemingly plunging deeper into the nightmare, a shaft slipping out of its hands and into nearby grass.

"Gabriel?! Where'd you go?!"

No, this is... too real to be a dream. I'm trapped in the darkness... I can't get out. Wait, there's a light...!

Many lights. Bright ones, everywhere. Clinking glasses. Beautiful women.

"Ah, this is the life! Fine wine, parties, expensive hotels! When you're on top of the world, Quince, you can do anything."

"You said it, brother."

Did I say that? I don't remember. No, I do remember. I'm just not sure...

Suddenly the light was fading, the hedonistic memories followed by intense feelings of regret and longing. The creature now felt like a ghost of its former self, hung up on its past life, its past life hung up on it.

However potent and unpredictable, this was no fantasy. It was the flush of water that the monster had mistaken for the flush of its own brain. Glass shards shifted under its body as it tried to move, but they caused no pain. Everything was dark now.

"The light... I want to sssssssee the light again..."

 

[TheJustinMann]

(Sorry for the late reply! I have band camp and I just got a break)

It was there, lying on the ground in a puddle, in the middle of a pile of shattered glass and concrete. It was still unconscious, but it began moving. It woke up, seeing everything around it, though not appearing to have eyes. It gave off a faint, white glow, and seemed to be confused. The light surrounding it was unfortunately not enough for it to make out everything, just the piles of rubble and sparking electrical equipment. It then began having flashes of memory... A little girl with light blonde hair and blue eyes was staring at it, the sunset in the background. “Hey... you’ll be back, right?” She asked. The memory flash then continued. It could see a small orb, glowing white as itself was. It then saw a man pick it up, and look at it with intrigue. Surely... it couldn’t be it, could it? A memory flash then showed it being... put into some kind of mixer with different elements. Of course, it just absorbed what was thrown at it. The memory flashes stopped, and it began thinking. “Where... no, what am I?" It wondered. It continued looking around, and believed it heard voices. It needed a bit more rest before it dare move...

 

[The Quiet Zubat]

As the creatures writhed on the wet floor, beams of light from industrial torches penetrated the darkness and waved back and forth. Boots moved cautiously through the facility, splip...sploop...splip through the dissipating puddles, followed by the bleep of a walkie talkie, "No test tubes intact, boss," the voice was deep, cool, and emotionless, "Some of the specimens seemed to have survived."

Static crackled, "Hold your positions, I'm coming in. They are very fragile, I don't want anyone else to handle them," a woman responded in a calm but stern tone.

"Copy," was all the emotionless man replied. Once again the room went near completely dark and the only sounds were that of sparking electricity and dripping water.

"Where am I?" Pleaded one creature, as loudly as they could still unsure of their identity. Fluffy...Skeeter...more memories assaulted their mind. It was as painful to think as it was to move.

Click click click click, the rhythmic sound of stilettos echoed throughout the room, causing an instinctive rush of anxiety, pulling memories of several different yet similar experiences, each one featured some sort of hospital and the unnerving sensation of paralysis. A woman spoke,

"There, there, sweetheart, don't worry you'll be home soon," she cooed, pulling something out of her pocket.

"H-home, which home? My home? Or...or my home?" They tried to respond, but failed to realize their language merely sounded like growls and huffs to the woman. With the anxiety came adrenaline, dulling any pain and forcing their body to focus on self preservation. They heard the hiss of a dart gun and reacted reflexively with an ice beam attack. Run..run! The singular thought took over. They staggered onto four legs, they could've sworn they only used to have two. The steps were staggered at first but they had to move quickly towards the tundra. Darts hissed by, the woman was not expecting a moving target. Once through the hole in the wall they began to dig at an alarming speed, tunnling down and away from the strange building.

"Humph, I'll get you later," One by one the woman in stilettos attempted to tranquilize the various beings strewn out over the ruined laboratory floor. Some escaped, some put up little fight. She radioed for her assistants to bring the travel containers and load everyone and everything up.

"We're moving to site B," she directed as men and women in white lab coats pushed hovering stretchers towards specialized transports that resembled a sort of cross between an ambulance and a tank.

 

[TheJustinMann]

It heard and felt movements of something... way bigger than it. It began shaking nervously, unsure of how to feel. It saw many people with containers, and shook even more. It then felt a burst of... cold air. “Is... that a way out?” It thought, noting that the room wasn’t exactly cold as the air was. It then began its first move. Being rested, it glowed brighter, and began to become a ball. It then noticed the tech-looking lines on it’s “body”. It didn’t want to think of that right now, though. It sneakily(with some trouble considering people were everywhere, and it was glowing) made its way to the breach in the wall. As it got near, it began to stiffen up. It was way to cold for it to go outside, considering it was somewhat liquid like. “Maybe... um.... hm...” it said, looking around for any absorbable heat. It then noticed the sparking of the electricity. It of course would hurt for a minute, but it was better than staying at this place. It rolled up on the wires, flinched because of pain, but absorbed the heat from the wires. It began, slowly, but surely making its way to the tundra, hopefully not to be caught...

 

[waluigipinball]

The sound of her safe place exploding brought terror and confusion into her heart, at first- and then the pain struck.

It hurts.

Memories were sporadic and muddled if she even managed to get a grasp on them; they seemed to make no sense, but really did anything make sense? "Are you alright, Tama?" the voice called, a voice belonging to a faceless boy, who was reaching his swimming hand out for her. She reached out to take his hand but he was gone before she could touch him. His name, though... it was on the tip of her tongue, but every time she tried to say it it hitched in her throat, and the memory sank into the abyss again. The voices, the shouting, the blaring lights... they didn't help either. But, she was sure of one thing- her name was Tama.

She did not, however, know what she was.

It hurts. It hurts. It hurts. Everything hurts.

Cautiously, as if she was afraid she would inflict yet more pain on herself by doing so, the creature opened her eyes. She seemed to be a sort of goopy matter, glimmering and reflecting the alarm lights. When she shifted her shapeless body, she moved at a fast, strange speed- and, as she stared at her claws, claws that dripped ebony, she realised what she was.

Frantically, she looked around for something to cover herself up with. If only she could say...! But the name of the creature she had become was unreachable, like the name of the boy. So many names.

On the floor was a cloth, poorly constructed in the image of another creature, a well-liked one at that. No name came to her, however. Tama tried to move toward it, but every quick dart toward the desired cloth would burn her throbbing form.

ithurtsithurtsithurtsithurtsithurts

Names- the boy, the creature.

Mimi... ithurtsithurtsithurts

Every thought and memory was ripped away from her by searing pain, and as she looked up she realised that it was the lights, burning into her goopy flesh.

She put on the cloth.

 

[E.K.A.N.S.]

"Light...!"

It perceived movement in the darkness, as darts whizzed by overhead. But they were no threat, because the creature was grounded, slithering across the broken glass unscathed and quietly slipping away through the hole in the wall.

Much better, it thought, becoming less of a scared animal in the light. Huh. So I slither now. How do I know what it's like to float, stand on two legs, and tower over people, then? If they're too real to be dreams, well... shit. I must be having delusions of grandeur. Or I just woke up on the wrong side of whatever container I was in.

The creature didn't need to slither as if it were poised to strike. There wasn't much else in a tundra besides subshrubs and mosses, so if it felt like playing predator, there was little to conceal its presence. But there was also hardly anything to avoid, so it darted farther and farther away from the laboratory unobstructed.

Still, I definitely feel like I remember some of that stuff. Not like I can turn up any answers. If I'm losing my mind, I'll start with the simple things. First of all, who or what am I?

It slithered along aimlessly, drawing a blank as to the why and when but understanding that the where was a place with cold soil and snowcapped peaks in the distance.

So much for simple answers. I don't even know that one. Sigh... guess I'll just keep dragging my nuts across the cold hard dirt. If I even have nuts.

The creature's gender was another simple question that was hard to answer with its serpentine body pressed to the ground, but it felt more male than female.

 

[The Quiet Zubat]

In the darkness of the underground the mechanized crunching of tank tread over snow and permafrost drowned out all other sound.The burrowing creature collapsed in exhaustion, muscles burning like they hadn't been used in weeks. The surgical seams all over their body throbed painfully and an onslaught of memories assaulted their conscience. My name is Fluffy-NO! It's Skeeter! It has to be, but..but So infuriating was the confusion of not knowing their own name, they writhed in both physical and mental anguish. Frozen dirt caked onto their body, grinding into once white fur and covering up the awkward stitches that bound the Frankenstein creature together. Rather than cause more pain, the dirt soothed the flesh and seemed to fuse with their body, automatically hardening...Harden...they thought , I...I know harden. Master taught it to me after I lost a battle to that...that..no memory came to mind, like something had been deleted. Whatever part of them that once knew harden seemed to contribute nothing more that the simple defensive move. As the pain subsided, the exhausted creature came to realize that for some reason their body was made up of the used parts of several different pokemon. Their mind was especially crowded with the personal thoughts of once separate lives. This internal community couldn't seem to agree on how they felt about their circumstances. Above them the sound of the mysterious vehicles had faded. Curiosity became the dominant thought and they began to tunnel upward. After breaching the surface, they found themselves able to stand on two legs like a midnight Lycanrock, but the weight of their forearms made it more comfortable to walk on all fours. Over the vast landscape, few things were moving; what looked like a rag blowing in the wind, something unidentifiable giving off a strange glow, and the serpentine motion of another creature. They stayed still, unsure if these things posed a threat.

...

Site B:

The woman in stilettos clicked her fashionable shoes in annoyance. Too many specimens had escaped. "Why?" She growled, "why, of all the subjects to lose, we lost those most essential to The Project?"

"We can send out a recon squad in the morning to recover the subjects," a young, silver haired grunt suggested in the most professional tone he could muster despite his fear of the boss and her wrath.

"Do you have any idea how powerful these subjects are?" She chimed, cocking her head and raising a pencilled eyebrow. "They were engineered by our best scientists, no expense spared." She whipped around 180 degrees, tossing her long, perfectly straight platinum hair. "We need to find them as soon as possible before they discover their power. Ready the chopper fleet and bring me my pokemon."

 

[waluigipinball]

The coldness of the air that struck her as she darted out of the blown-out hole in the structure was coforting compared to the burning pain that the lights had inflicted upon her earlier. The cloth, crafted in the image of another so that no-one would be horrified by her true form, now covered her shapeless body. She had moulded into a shape that fit the cloth, and now comfortably wore it as a disguise.

But, what was she? She knew that creatures like her had a name, and she knew her own name, but... she seemed to be a form of goopy ebony matter, matter that could change shape and size at will- though, she felt unstable, unknowing what she really was. What was she capable of?

And then, of course, was the task of speaking. As she moved quickly, her strange body matter sweeping into the snow and turning it an ashen colour, she racked what little memories she had- how would she address herself? She knew there was a way, but... Tama was her name, so she decided to address herself as such.

Stopping, the creature murmured “Tama’s scared...” This was mainly to herself as a sort of form of reassurance, however as she heard angry voices coming from behind her, her shapeless form blazed through the snow at a jerky and unnatural speed.

 

[E.K.A.N.S.]

The creature darted ahead, only because the snow was so cold that he had to move fast. But at some point the snow ended and he was slithering on low grasses, the ground still cold and hard but warmer now.

What season is it? There's only a bit of snow. If it's summer in a tundra, then some of the frozen dirt melts and leaves behind-

"Lakesss," the creature hissed. He found himself staring down at one, a teal serpent with green sclerae and red slit pupils staring back at him. "So thisss is what I look like..."

He'd figured that he must be some kind of snake if he slithered, but this was definitely not how he remembered himself. Somewhere in those flashing memories was the real him, but he didn't know who that was.

"Well, I sssound way worse than I look, that I'm sure of," the serpent concluded. Once he'd taken in his softly rippling reflection, he stood up and looked back. From up on the hill where the small lake was, he could make out a four-legged creature with prominent claws that had sprung from the ground. It didn't look like they'd be coming any closer. In the corner of his eye, there was also a strange glowing orb.

"Did we all come from the sssame-" he wondered, as he started back down the hill.

But he couldn't finish his thought when something blazed through the snow and crashed into him at a ridiculous speed.

 

[TheJustinMann]

As the white ball went into the snowy waste, he realized something it should’ve found out a while back. “What... am I?” It thought back to the flashbacks that were suddenly thrown at it. The one with the girl speaking, and the one with the man and the orb. “Maybe... maybe I’m the person that girl was talking to... or the man picking up that orb?” It thought. It then had a few more sudden flashbacks. Extreme heat and fire singed its body. Freezing temperatures had kept it immobile, and cold. Acids had burned through it... but out of all of this, it was still alive. On a more peculiar note, there had been a name continuously repeated through each of these flashbacks by people’s voices, “AV”. It then thought back to the orb that had been on the ground. “Could that be... me?" It wondered, a bit worried now. One thing was clear as crystal: despite not really having a specific form, it was definitely male, based on it's mentality and thoughts. It then looked around, noticing a creature had sprung from the ground in front of him, and a slithering creature to its left. It began to shake, scared of them both, despite neither showing any acts of aggression. The snow around it that had been shaken up a bit had slowly began absorbing into the creature.

 

[waluigipinball]

The ground changed from snow to a wet, muddy grassland below her; but, this was something she barely had time to acknowledge as she felt something crash against her- in her blind and frantic escape, she had not been able to see ahead of her. Almost instantly, she came to a halt, and three-clawed, goopy hands shot out of the cloth to cover the mouth of her disguise. "O-Oh!" she exclaimed, startled. She had not expected to see others out here- while she was contained in the safe place, she did feel the presence of others, but the pain of the lights and her rushed escape prevented her from thinking about her fellow survivors. Though she could not be sure, it was safe to assume that the serpentine creature she had collided with was perhaps from the same place as herself- though, the other had a shape, a solid body, unlike herself.

"Tama's sorry," she murmured, once again hiding her strange appendages. "Tama hopes you aren't hurt." The words she spoke came to her suddenly, as if she were grasping hold of a lost memory.

 

[The Quiet Zubat]

Hearing Tama say her name caused a wave of despair through the jumbled mind of the four legged beast. Between the mournful thoughts of those who couldn't remember who they once were and those with names they remembered being called in the past, they couldn't seem to agree on their name.

A gust of chilling arctic wind swept the area, carrying the smell of the destroyed laboratory. The scent triggered anxiety in the fluffy creature, making them want to burrow back underground but something else was on the air..something...something delicious..they thought. The primal insticts of the more bestial pokemon in their internal community fought for control over the body's senses, causing the creature to jerk and twitch violently, grumbling and growling to themselves. Fish...food, I need food...hunt..hunt..hunt. They stalked to the edge of the nearby lake, sniffing, listening. Just beneath the surface a barboach swam. The creature reacted with lightning fast reflexes, hoping to skewer the fish on one of his massive claws. As soon as they touched the water its surface flash froze, causing the painful sensation of jamming one's finger. The creature jabbed again and again, but it was no use. The flash freeze ability prevented them from reaching the fish. They howled in frustration, and sat pouting over their unsatisfied hunger. Looking back to the other creatures, a rag, an orb and a poisonous looking snake, none of them seemed edible. Food...where is food...

 

[E.K.A.N.S.]

"Tama? Is that your name?" he asked. "Third person, huh? I talk pretty ssscrewy too, so I guess we have something in common. My name's..."

The serpent hadn't thought of a name and didn't know if he even had one.

"...Nix. Yeah, that's good. Call me Nix. And I'm not hurt or anything. You kinda bounced off of me, so I must have some tough ssskin," he concluded. "Though I'm still getting used to it. I don't even know if I'm a Pokémon or what. I literally jussst found out what I look like from that lake over there-"

Nix looked back at the now-frozen lake, the four-legged creature howling in frustration over it. Slithering closer, he saw that they were very dirty and covered in stitches, with the arms of an Alolan Sandslash and the legs of a midnight Lycanroc.

"Hey 'fluffy'..." he sympathetically addressed the grotesque Pokéfusion, before returning to his blunt self. "The lake froze over, huh? Bummer. If you're hungry, let's get one thing straight. The name's Nix, and I'm not food. You'd break your teeth on my ssskin. But we can ssstick together and find some, because no one wanders a tundra alone and we probably came from the sssame place anyway."

As he was slithering back to Tama and the orb, Nix looked back at the pained, stitched-up creature.

"Whatever went on in that place we all came from..." he added solemnly. "It's fucked beyond belief."

 

[TheJustinMann]

The orb looked up at the cloaked being that called itself Tama, and the snake like creature that said it was Nix. Of course, it still knew nothing about the other creature. But it was still shaking, frightened by everyone at the moment. “U.... um....Hi....” it stuttered in a higher pitched male voice, but with a technological echo, and with long pauses in between its words. “I’m, uh.... AV...” he continued, remembering the same name used in all of the flashbacks. AV began to shake less, and had absorbed enough matter to become the size of a soccer ball, where it stopped absorbing matter. It wasn’t as scared anymore, considering none of the other subjects seemed to be doing anything to each other. It then looked at the broken lab. “Was that... really our home? No, it couldn’t have been.... right?” It wondered aloud, not even thinking about if it, or any of them had a home or not. It then shut itself up, deciding it had talked enough for now.

 

[waluigipinball]

"Tama... doesn't really know why she's is speaking like this." murmured the creature, melancholy edging her tone- but, as the snake noted his own speech impediment, Tama felt her spirits lifting, and she smiled despite the fact no one could see her do so. Her own speech seemed to disturb one of them, who was howling by the nearby, frozen-over lake, and she briefly glanced at him until the snake began to speak again. "Well, nice to meet you, Nix. Tama's glad she didn't hurt you."

Listening closely to the conversation of Nix and the other creature, the one that seemed to be a Frankenstein's monster of two others, she grew worried that she might be consumed, since Nix seemed to have that kind of idea. Though, she doubted her tar-like body mass (if she could even call it mass) would be particularly appealing to a potential predator, so the thought left her mind almost as quickly as it entered. After a bit, Nix had slithered back over, speaking of the place where they all seemed to have came from.

"Tama couldn't have said it better herself," she murmured, shaking her head. "Tama doesn't remember a lot, except a boy... and feeling like she was melting." Tama shook her faux head, as if the pain was threatening to return simply by mentioning it. How had she gone from being with the brown-haired boy in her memory to being thrown out onto the ground, her 'body' everywhere, the light burning her 'flesh'? There must be things that happened in-between, but they were largely unreachable, for the moment.

Suddenly, the Orb that Tama had mentally taken note of earlier began to speak, its words grainy and high-pitched. "Oh, um... Alola, AV."

Alola? What did that mean? The word had come to her in an instant, much unlike the self-addressing word still refused to. Why had she remembered a strange word such as that, and not the name of what she was, or the name of the boy?

Hearing AV's question, Tama nodded, ebony claws slithering from under the cloth to clasp together in a nervous sort of way. Her 'flesh' dripped, dying the snow a charcoal-grey. "Tama thinks we did come from there, but... that isn't where we are truly from." murmured the disguise-clad creature. "Tama has... flashes of memory from places other than there, but then they go away again. Tama just knows they were cruel to us."

 

[The Quiet Zubat]

Site B:

The engines of four helicopters, whined as the pilots readied for take off. Chopping blades buffeted the air making verbal communication nearly impossible. Eight grunts with color-coded wands were spaced strategically around the massive concrete rooftop, standing by to direct a coordinated lift-off. The facility was built on the side of a mountain, overlooking a vast tundra, offering breathtaking views in clear weather. It was nearly sunset and the valley took on a yellow hue while the distant mountains began to appear more purple.

Ding!

The rooftop elevator opened to reveal the platinum haired woman wearing a black jumpsuit, she'd traded in her stilettos for wedge heeled combat boots . A grunt handed her a black helmet with a built-in comms system and thick goggles. Rather than head for a cockpit, she strode to the edge of the roof and pulled out a pokeball.

"Pilots, recording equipment ready?" She asked.

"Ready," a pilot responded.

"Ms. Dex, ready for take-off," a different pilot spoke through the comms.

"Ready," she replied. After a breif hand signal, she leaned forward and began to freefall, the feeling always brought back memories of her childhood.

She was ten years old again, diving into the ocean from the cliffs near her seaside home in Hoenn. Beside her, a little blue pokemon had dreams of soaring through the sky. Every day they would dive together, every day becoming more fearless.

As she fell from the rooftop, her pokeball released her dear partner in a red flash. The massive red and blue dragon dove by her side, unwavering as the ground grew closer. In a well practiced aerial stunt, they drifted closer together until Ms. Dex took her seat at the base of her Salamence's neck. Behind them, the chopper fleet rose into the air, large cameras hung from their sides, bolted in and manually operated by grunts.

"Ready, Jet?" She asked, patting his side.

I'll do anything for you, thought Jet, anything for my Ethel.

Jet opened his wings and leveled out, soaring down toward the valley leading the fleet to battle.

...

Back by the lake:

"Fluffy..." The creature was conflicted, partly warmed to hear their name but partly irked not to be addressed by the other names they used to have. "Tama...Nix...a-AV..uh..alola, yes alola" the familiar greeting came easily but the world also brought with it melancholy feelings of goodbye. "I...I FlufSKI..no fluffy, not ALL fluffy," they decided.
Ghrrrmrrmrr, their stomach growled. The hunger pains were intense. "Find food with Flufski?" They asked, unsure of their words as their internal community fought over language. They wondered if talking would ever get easier.

In the distance, the chopper fleet could be heard but not yet seen, confusing Flufski with mixed emotions of excitement and fear. What's that sound?-It's fun!-No, it's scary-I've never heard it before-yes, I have!! What is it? "You hear sound?" They asked aloud.

 

[E.K.A.N.S.]

“Was that... really our home? No, it couldn’t have been.... right?”

"Dunno. Ssssnakes live under rocks and if that'ssss what I am, then a dark place like that sounds close to home. You look straight out the lab with those tech lines too, unless that's just their way of branding you," Nix answered. "Whatever it is, Tama's right on two things. One, that it's nicccce meeting her. Two, that I've got all these memories floating around from other places. More like passsst lives than separate consciou- consciousssensss- conscioussssssnessssse- I give up, but you know what I mean."

"Heh, I always thought reincarnation took thousands of years, or at least as long as it takes me to say that word right, but I guessss not," Nix added, when his tongue recovered from all the s's that got stuck on it. Except he didn't really know what he "always thought." The phrase came naturally to him, but the memories weren't there.

"Find food with Flufski?"

That's right. Maybe if they ate something, they'd be able to think more clearly.

"That's a lot of f's, Flufsssski. I'll pay you back in s's," Nix joked. "But yeah, sure, let's go find us something to eat in this giant freezer. That ssssound we're hearing might just be it."

 

[waluigipinball]

Tama's brain was muddled, that went without saying, but she supposed... the feeling in her gut (wherever that was) was one of dread and frustration, and possibly hunger as well. So, the suggestion of getting food was appealing to her to say the least. "Tama would be happy to find food with Flufski." she replied, relieved that the creature seemed to have calmed down slightly from its previous episode.

Her exposed flesh was starting to burn from the loght of the outside, or perhaps the light that was eminating from AV. Hissing slightly in pain, her claws retracted into her shapeless body at an abnormal speed. "Reincarnation, hm?" Tama hummed, tilting her head. In her 'past life', Tama had been called the same name... was that how past lives worked? Or, perhaps... she had a different name, and the 'memory' was something tricking her? Thoughts such as started to pour into her mind, and for a moment she though she was going to frazzle her brain again- but, then she remembered how perfectly natural the name 'Tama' had felt to her. Even if that wasn't her name, Tama would still refer to herself as such.

"Tama hears the sound." murmured the creature, nodding her faux head in assertion. "Tama doesn't know what it-"

And she cut herself off-

Suddenly she was looking at the boy again. He had a face, now- grey eyes, but... not boring grey eyes. In fact, she never even knew that a pair of grey eyes could show her so much. He had pale lips and quite a small, nose, and he was reaching his hand out to her, looking panicked, and she could hear the noise in the background. "TAMA!" he shouted, sounding distressed, and Tama reached her own hand out- it wasn't tar-like flesh, but... she didn't know what it was, because the vision swan too much for her to focus on it, but then... his name...

Connor. His name is Connor.

"Connor!" Tama suddenly blurted, crimson eyes widening through the holes in her cloak.

 

[The Quiet Zubat]

If it wasn't for her comms helmet, all Ethel Dex could hear would be rushing wind and helicopter blades. She on the back of Jet, her beloved Salamence, and scanned the ground below looking for signs of the escaped creatures. At first, the situation seemed disastrous, having experiments break out of confinement, but Ethel and her scientists realized this could be a grand opportunity to showcase their merchandise in action. The four choppers equipped with mounted cameras would provide several perspectives for what was to come and the hope was they would gather enough footage to throw together and edit a shining review of their progress for the benefit of their sponsors.

"Scanners are picking up microchip signatures to the West," one pilot reported through the comms.

Ethel shifted her heading slightly and addressed her crew, "Do not engage the subjects. Once they are found, ready the film and stay airborn."

Beneath her, Jet grumbled and huffed, he could smell they were getting close.

...

Flufski was glad these other creatures wanted to find food rather than fight. They were glad they hadn't decided to try and bite Nix, a mouthful of poisonous rocks did not at all sound appetizing.

"Sound..." they looked to the sky, seeing five dots appear in the distance, "sound means food?" Their hunger made them weak and dizzy, again their stomach growled GRRMRMMMRRR
"You...you friends," they said, "friends hunt sound with Flufski?...so hungry.." The white fur on their back bristled as slimy drool dripped from their mouth. They shook, flinging off bits of dirt and drool onto everyone else.

For a moment, they noticed Tama seemed to be in another world but came back after exclaiming a name.

"Who Connor?" Flufski asked looking over their shoulder then pointing toward the source of the sound, "that Connor, Tama's friend? Flufski hungry...but no want to eat Tama's friend."

 

[TheJustinMann]

“Branding? Food? Connor?” The thoughts rushed through AV’s “head” as the other creatures spoke. He was... confused, mostly, no longer scared of being in the presence of the other subjects. Thinking of what Nix had said, he felt that it always had the lines, however there was no way of proving this to them or to himself. There was no evidence of this in any of the flashes either. He had a harder time thinking of food, as they were in the middle of what was considered a frozen desert, a wintery wasteland. It finally thought about what the oozing creature, Tama, had said, someone named Connor. “Must be more memories...” he thought. He then caught on to the noise everyone was speaking of. He rolled up to Flufski. “Hey, you wanted to go find food? I guess I could help out.” He said. He didn’t care as much as to who this Connor person was, so he didn’t feel the need to ask.

 

[The Quiet Zubat]

Ethel and Jet landed a safe distance from the escaped subjects, letting three of the four choppers go on ahead to film from the sky.
"Let them come to us, Jet," she said, stroking his neck with a gloved hand, "I'll lay the bait. This will give us the opportunity to observe how they move."

One chopper had stayed behind, waiting for the signal to release their cargo.

"Bait the hook." Ethel ordered into the comms.

From above, a series of parcels parachuted down in the foreground between Ms. Dex and the subjects. Some of the parcels were fragrant with the scent of pokefood, others were heavy with rare minerals. Just a bit of literal bait to dissuade the group from running off instead of battling. A battle was essential to Ethel, it meant a true field test of her project.

"Start the film."

"Rolling, ready to go."

"Okay, Jet, make these beasts jealous, would you?" Ethel cooed.

Jet gurgled and purred, moving his massive body forward and knocking a parachute out of the sky with his dragon breath. He gracefully caught the falling package in his mouth, crunched hard, and swallowed, letting out a triumphant, theatrical roar.

...

The choppers circling overhead were both mesmerizing and terrifying. The sound was deafening and their presence made Flufski feel uneasy. Something else had landed further down the lake shore, something big and menacing.

"Smells...smells so good, I-I want.." Flufski almost immediately caught the scent of the packages falling through the air and seeing that Salamence eat one confirmed their thoughts that food was literally falling right out of the sky. "Challenge..m-monster. Win food." Flufski shivered with excitement and looked to his friends, hoping they'd follow. They took off, moving like a running Oranguru. They arrived at a fallen package and devoured its contents, barely sating their beastly appetite, they roared.

Jet the Salamence did not hesitate, as soon as Flufski was in range he let off another dragon breath attack, noxious gasses of all colors billowed from his mouth. Flufski was stopped in their tracks, gasping and choking, they reacted angrily with what they meant to be an Ice Beam but somewhere in their mind another memory took over turning the attack into a rapid succession of icicle spears.

With one flap of his wings, Jet rose into the air to avoid the dangerous spears as Ethel took cover laying prone behind a small dirt mound.

"Flamethrower!" She shouted to Jet who then let off a horrifying torrent of flames. Flufski tried to hide by digging underground but was only partly successful as his white fur was singed black.

 

[E.K.A.N.S.]

They shook, flinging off bits of dirt and drool onto everyone else.

Nix sighed. "...Nice to meet you too, Flufski."

This creature was something else, all right. One moment, they were shaking themselves off as if there were no one around, and the next they were concerned about others. As sweet if not as naïve as a child, they seemed to be just learning about the world. "Ssssound means food? We can sssstick with that for now."

How come Nix seemed to know so much? Why wasn't he asking AV's questions, having Tama's hallucinations, or jumping to Flufski's conclusions? There was a lot he didn't understand, but he didn't let the unknown scare him. He never dwelled on anything either. When he slithered out of the lab, even though he remembered floating, standing, and towering over humans? Well... shit. I must be having delusions of grandeur. When his appearance conflicted with his memory? Well, I sssound way worse than I look, that I'm sure of. What about when the memories themselves conflicted with each other? Heh, I always thought reincarnation took thousands of years, or at least as long as it takes me to say that word right, but I guessss not. When Nix couldn't even answer the basic question of who or what he was? Sigh... guess I'll just keep dragging my nuts across the cold hard dirt. If I even have nuts.

He didn't sweat the small stuff, or in the case of his nuts, he didn't sweat the stuff whose existence was uncertain. In more ways than one, Nix had no fucks to give, dismissing things and moving forward. Perhaps it was because his memories empowered more than they confused him. He knew the blackest abyss and the most intense longing, so the shock of reality was nothing. Or perhaps he wasn't as tough and hard-boiled as all that, doubting himself deep inside. Soon, he might succumb to a sudden recollection like Tama, once he found the right trigger.

"Hold it, Flufski. Food doesn't just fall from the sssssky!"

But they gave him little more than a passing glance before they went to put food in their mouth. Not realizing that they were walking into the mouth of danger.

"Damn! I should've ssssaid ssssomething ssssooner, but it takes forever for the words to come out thanks to this sssstupid sssspeech defect."

Nix darted over to Fluski as fast as he could. They were stranded by themselves out there!

"What's your fucking problem, dude?!" he shouted to Jet, aiming for his mouth and coughing up several Rock Blasts.

From the statement alone, one might think that Nix was trying to work things out with the overgrown lizard. But anyone who knew him understood that he got straight to the point. He couldn't afford to talk it out and dwell on things as long as everyone else, or his speech impediment would keep him there forever.

 

[waluigipinball]

Tama nodded solemnly in response to Flufski's question, but didn't have much time to reply- something roared with fury and a voice commanded a 'Flamethrower'. For a moment, her fight or flight response triggered and she almost instinctively ran away, but managed to stop herself. Whoever they were, whatever relation the four of them may have with eachother, there was no doubt they were in this together. If they truly wanted to get out of there alive, Tama needed to do her bit. She noticed Nix blasting rocks at the dragon-like creature in the sky as powerful energy billowed from the latter's mouth, and seeing that Flufski seemed scared out of their skin, a strange determination emerged from within her.

The tar-like creature blazed toward the battling group at an alarming speed, the eyes in her costume's 'stomach' glowing a blinding light. Her body glowed with a pale pink light and a blast of light shot from her body in the form of a Moonblast, positively sparking with-built up energy; it hurt her body to expel so much energy, and after the attack her form began to melt even more, as she cried out in pain.

And then, suddenly, her flesh fully dissipated. A shadow in a shapless form appeared on the ground where she had been stood, and her numerous crimson eyes littered the shadow. Her cloak stood lonesome and empty, but still stood, strangely, despite there being nothing in it. "A-Ah!" she exclaimed, her voice echoing with a strange muffled reverb.

 

[TheJustinMann]

AV noticed the flames of the dragon thing, he didn’t quite know what it was. And now, the white orb was shaking again. “I-I-I don’t know what to do in a fight!” He thought to himself, scared to death of what was going on. He didn’t remember any attacks, or even what he could do. Instead, he moved away a little bit, and tried not to draw to much attention to himself. He didn’t want to abandon the other subjects, but he didn’t want to get himsled hurt either, especially when he didn’t know what to in a battle senario. The more he shook, the more the ground around him was shaken up, and he again slowly began absorbing matter, slowly growing larger. AV didn’t notice this, because his “eyes” weren’t open, and he continued to cower behind the others.

 

[The Quiet Zubat]

Jet the Salamence did his best to evade the barage of rocks hurdling toward him from the tough, poisonous snake, but still took some hard hits. Each semi-frozen clod of earth that struck disintegrated on impact, speaking volumes of the power behind the throws. As if that wasn't bad enough, a dazzling moonblast attack hit head on, nearly knocking Jet right out of the sky. He and Ethel had certainly been in tougher scrapes, but this three on one type disadvantage was no easy battle.

Ethel hadn't moved, still laying prone a good distance from the battle, directing the chopper fleet above on their camera angles. In her mind, the battle was going splendid. These creatures, fresh out of the test tube, were holding up against her prized Salamence. Jet's power was near legendary, and many of DexCo's clients knew this based off first hand experience. Ethel smirked and fumbled with her necklace, remembering past battles and tournaments, all the hard loses and redeeming wins it took to be where she was.

"Chopper One, focus on getting shots of the specialised mimikyu, but not too close," Ethel ordered into the comms, "Chopper Two, I want you on the orb, we will need to document it's rate of absorption. Chopper Three, stay on the beast, I want at least one more shot of it attacking. Chopper Four, move West for better visibility of the snake, there's too much debris."

The choppers shifted slightly, their blades whipping the air and stirring up the loose dirt below.

...

Flufsky shook violently, their internal community fought for control of the situation. The smell of burnt hair evolked many memories of past battles, and the owner of each memory had an opinion about what to do next. Rather than result in some form of mega attack, the compounding memories left them immobilized, half burried underground and struggling to stay on task. They could feel AV trembling behind them in the distance, they heard the crackling of disintegrating rocks making contact, the bright light of the moonblast, it was too much stimulation. Flufsky had a splitting headache, the pain would've crippled most creatures but oddly enough it gave him focus, the voices shut up and he forgot his hunger. In that moment of pain, he knew who he was, what he was and what he needed to do next, if only to get rid of that god damned headache.

He rolled in the dirt around him, hardening his outer shell. Then began using powder snow and stealth rock in unison, resulting in snowballs filled with sharp stones. Flufsky launched his attack toward the dragon.

...

Ethel stood after seeing Jet take a hit from one of the snowballs, pointed stones were lodged in his shoulder. What a dirty, childish trick, she thought. She waved to her partner signaling to be picked up. Jet made a sweep across the battlefield, letting loose a dragon breath attack to cloud the area in a rainbow fog before landing by his trainer. Ethel mounted up and they lifted off.

"We'll come feed the subjects again, but for now regroup at Site B, I want to look over the footage," she said into the comms, already flying back with Jet. "I know you can take them, Jet, but let's save our true power for now."

...

As the dragon breath fog cleared, the enemy seemed to have retreated, leaving behind several packages of food.

"Nix! Tama! We winned!" Flufsky threw a claw in the air, their headache was subsiding and the voices of the internal community returned. "Stinky dragon ran away, we win food!" They dug into the nearst package, gobbling up its contents.

 

[E.K.A.N.S.]

"That'ssss all it took? Ssssomething isn't right here," hissed the skeptical Nix.

But Flufski was too busy devouring food, neither sharing his concerns nor appearing to have any of their own. Nix was pretty hungry himself, but he always thought ahead.

"All right, then. We won fair and ssssquare. Wouldn't hurt to celebrate," he conceded. "But there's nothing here in this frozen wasteland, so all we can do from here on out is keep moving forward until there is."

Nix consumed food from one of the packages, but it was as if his tongue was rejecting it. So it wasn't hard to look away and notice Tama standing perfectly still, casting a strange shadow littered with crimson eyes.

"You all right, Tama?"

That was all he said, because he'd never seen anything quite like it and didn't know what to even make of it.

 

[waluigipinball]

"F-Food? That's very good, but Tama... doesn't know if she can eat right now...?" the creature murmured, able to see much more than before; the pupils of her several eyes flickered rapidly around in slight panic. She reached up a claw made of shadow, which phased through the package when she tried to grab at it. She then heard Nix mention her name, and the body still stayed as if it were made of stone. She was not able to portray any type of emotion in this state, unfortunately, so couldn't convince anyone that she was fine.

"Um... Tama's okay, she thinks..." she trailed off, wondering what in fact had happened to her. After letting out that Moonblast- something that was extremely powerful- her physical body had collapsed, as if she was not able to held herself together anymore because of the amount of power she had let out. "Tama knows she will be fine. Tama let out a lot of power, and... she thinks maybe she is recovering." the shadow creature muttered, her voice slightly shaky as if she were not sure of her own words. "But Nix is right. We have to move forward, in case the dragon comes back."

 

[TheJustinMann]

“I-It’s gone?” AV said, looking to see that the helicopters had flown off, and the others had held their own against the dragon. He stopped shaking, before noticing he was the size of a beach ball. “Am I just gonna keep growing the more I absorb?” He thought. He then went back over to the others. “It’s good that y’all got food... sorry I couldn’t have been more helpful... I’m not exactly sure what to do in a fight...” The glowing sphere said, a bit of disappointment in his voice. He had more of an interest in what happened to Tama, considering a shadow version of what seemed to be her was now present, but he said nothing about it. “So, we have food... what now?” He asked, unsure of what else was to come.

 

[The Quiet Zubat]

Flufski munched happily on the contents of another package, they really weren't sure what to do next. The debris from the battle had finally settled as the sun moved closer to the horizon making the sky take on a light orange hue. The air was already frigid enough, but soon the temperature would drop for a long arctic night. Flufski was a childish creature, unsure about the world around them or how to handle conflicting emotions, but easily entertained and hopelessly naive. Food falls from the sky? Seems legit. Beating a powerful dragon in battle despite being practically one day old? I guess I'm just that powerful. They were completely oblivious to the possibility that something sinister was going on.
A more mature creature with some common sense might be suspicious of their circumstances. They might hesitate to eat the food or pause to wonder why the dragon didn't really put up a fight and instead almost play-acted as if it was some sort of movie star. What was it that caused so much destruction in the lab? How far exactly were they from civilization? Why did they even exist in the first place? None of these questions passed through Flufski's mind(s). They were too busy wolfing down food in a near futile attempt to satisfy their hunger. The voices in their head struggled to get along, I don't want to eat this, it's too salty!-Well, I like salty-Me too!-No, let's find something sweet!-That battle made me tired-Really? I feel fine-Is master going to find me all the way out here?-He might find part of you, but what about the rest?-Don't say that!-I want my body back, yours stinks-I do not!-I-I miss my bed-I never had a bed...
On the voices went.
As Tama tried to grasp the food, Flufski watched perplexed. They had known what is was like to reach for food only to be unable to grasp it from their attempts at fishing. "Poor Tama..." they said, "Tama needs recharge?" They looked to AV, who'd grown considerably "What to do? Ummm, we find...we find home?" All at once, dozens of memories of homes past flooded their mind prompting a waterfall of tears and wailing moans of changing pitch as the internal community passed control of the body around. It was all so confusing and Flufski was very embarrassed to be crying in front of new friends. They shuffled off to calm down, walking by the lake and occasionally touching it's surface to watch the water freeze and crackle. They walked toward the setting sun, sniffling and grunting "I wanna go home!, Me too, but we're stuck together. I'm gonna rip you out of my head! Try it. That would hurt. Everything already hurts."

 

[TheJustinMann]

AV thought it was an excellent idea to find someplace to call home. Because wherever they were, there was no way in Hell it was close to their actual homes. Hopefully, at least, because there would be no sense in living out here. AV’s train of thought began to run again, and he was now thinking of homes. “Did... did I even have one to begin with?” He said quietly. A flash of a forest then went through his mind, and another revealed a house in a suburban area. The last just revealed a lab like area, where he was being peered over by humans. “Well, that doesn’t help very much, does it?” The orb thought to himself. He then looked back to Flufski, who had been crying, and ran off a bit. Before he “ran” after them, he looked to the rest of the food. “Actually... do I even need to eat?” He wondered, and decided to take a small portion, just for good measure. He then rolled up to the fusion, who seemed to be arguing with itself. “Hey, Flufski... are you okay?” He asked.

 

[The Quiet Zubat]

"Flufski...Flufski is just tired."
Flufski needed answers, they needed sleep, they wanted to feel safe, to feel whole. In the distance, the lab was still standing despite serious damage. The whole building mimicked the orange hue of the sunset and stood out as the only structure as far as they could see. Ill bet the rest of me is back there, thought one of their internal voices. Maybe that place has more food...maybe more friend...or enemies...Flufski is strong...we can handle ourself we fought a dragon! The throbbing remnants of their headache had a numbing effect on the volume of their internal community. Without consulting anyone or heeding any caution, they slowly sauntered toward the lab.

...

Site B

Ethel personally saw to the care of her Salamence, she didn't like others to interfere with their bond. The footage of the "battle" was being processed and touched up, it would be some time before they had something to present to the sponsors. Until then they had to keep the lab catastrophe quiet. She applied a final coat of potion to Jet's wounds and returned him into her pokeball. After leaving the spacious sick bay to be cleaned by someone less important, Ethel found the nearest computer console and drafted a memo to all employees and personel.

To all DexCo personnel,
This memo states that any and all information regarding the events at our laboratory site are hereby classified as top secret information. Any breach of classification will result in severe punishment for all persons and pokemon involved. All personnel currently on staff are to remain at Site B pending the resolution of The Project.

Authorized October 3rd, 2200
Ethel Dex
Project Manager

 

[E.K.A.N.S.]

“Flufski, where are you going? We jusssst came from there,” asked Nix when he noticed them drawing back to the ruined lab. He slithered into the fusion’s path to snap them out of whatever had triggered this sudden retreat. The cynical snake assumed that Flufski was just wandering aimlessly, not considering that they may have been leading them back to the only roof for miles. But even if shelter was the need that immediately followed food, the damaged structure wasn’t where they should look, because that was the first place their captors would.

 

[The Quiet Zubat]

Flufski snapped their attention to Nix, flinching like a child caught making a stupid decision. They skulked in place, struggling to keep eye contact with the poisonous snake. A gust of arctic wind rustled their fur as the sky took on a slightly deeper orange.

"Flufski sorry..." They managed to mumble as they fidgeted. "Nix knows which way go now?"

...

Site B

The smell of wet tires and motor oil was pungent in the sharp, chilly air. Click click click click, her stilettos echoed with every step in the cavernous room. Ethel walked past row upon row of specialty snow vehicles, all precisely parked in the Site B Level 1 Garage. She was on her way back to the lab, hoping to recover any stray subjects and determine exactly what caused that explosion.

While the snow vehicles were comfortable, they were very noisy. Ethel preferred to use pokemon rather than machines as often as possible. At the end of the garage, a large rollie door was shut, the thin metal rattling with the outside wind. As she drew near the door she retrieved a small tablet from a deep coat pocket and typed a code. The door began to open and without breaking her stride, Ethel stepped out into the snow.

Waiting for her, saddled and ready to go, was Arcanine. The pokemon's speed was legendary, the perfect choice for a quick visit to the lab. Arcanine's firey warmth took the edge off the arctic chill.

As they sped down the mountain, Ethel began to run a few numbers through her head. Of the original fourteen test subjects, three had been confirmed dead at the initial lab sweep. Five had been recovered and transported to Site B. They had encountered four escaped subjects on the tundra, that left two subjects unaccounted for.

 

[waluigipinball]

Tama had stayed silent, mostly- not because she was the quiet type, but merely because she felt as if she had nothing to contribute- and additionally, talking sort of hur her. Suddenly, a sharp sensation surged throughout her 'body'- not necessarily a painful sensation, but a strong one for sure- and she felt her form being thrown forward and under her cloth. Realising she was physical once again, Tama absentmindedly traced the ground around her with her claw, staining some of it black. "Well, whichever way we have to go," she murmured, "Tama knows that we have to get away from where we came. It's a bad place, Tama can tell."

"Tama's not too smart," tha creature murmured, slightly embarassed, "But Tama thinks we should look for a hiding space. If we stay in this open area for too long, Tama is sure they will attack us again," she continued, worrying slightly about where exactly they would hide- but, they had to act quickly and spontaneously, or they may be in danger.

 

[BoredSnowglobe]

It opened it’s eyes, seeing broken glass all around itself. It saw some light, and noticed a hole as well. Where am I? It thought before making it’s way towards the hole. Then it stopped. Some pain surged through their head, and a memory came into their head.

“Come on Flora! We have to win this gym battle!”

Flora? Was that the creatures name? It thought about it more, and decided on it. Flora... I like it... The creature went through the hole, then cold air pierced it’s body. So cold... It thought as it continued forward. It spotted a frozen puddle that was half buried through the snow. It looked at it, seeing what it really looked like.

It had the body of a Sewaddle, but it realized that their body was very goopy, like a moving puddle. Their body was not the normal color a Sewaddle would have, it had a very very light green with hints of red in it’s own mushy body. It quickly looked away, and continued going forward. Soon it spotted some Pokemon, and it became more excited. It tried to call out to them, but only a quiet mumble came out. “F-F-Flora....” It finally said, and their voice felt worn out.

 

[E.K.A.N.S.]

If anything good came out of it, Flufski's unexpected change of direction got Nix to turn around and spot a goopy form dragging itself across the dirt. The serpent ended up doing exactly what he'd chastised the fusion for, slithering to the puddling Sewaddle with his foot, or rather his tail, in his mouth. He hadn't heard its weak introduction, so in his mind he spoke first.

"You musssst be from the lab. It'ssss not hard to tell. If you want to tag along, my name's Nix. The one with claws is Fluski, the rag is Tama, and the ball is AV."

The snow had turned to dirt, but he wasn't getting any warmer, offering a characteristically blunt description of his companions. The indifferent snake didn't eagerly assume a leadership role, but Tama's self-doubt and Flufski's absentmindedness left it as vacant as the unending tundra. Naturally, it fell into Nix's hands, or scales.

He didn't have any shoulders either, so as he resumed his forward course, he put that responsibility elsewhere. If there was one thing he expected out of this party, it was that everyone pulled their own weight. With little solid matter, the gelatinous caterpillar should have no problem doing that. Nix wasn't about to carry it, after all.

He didn't really know where to go, for he was hard-pressed to find shelter in this barren wasteland. They'd left the elevated lake behind, descending that hill and weaving between the small ponds that revealed themselves below. If the lab creature's perception of time was still accurate, they must have navigated the series of sparsely vegetated hills for about half an hour. There were no other signs of movement but them, leading the serpent to conclude one of two things: either their location was that remote, or its inhabitants hid themselves very well. He paused at a final hill and looked down its empty slope.

There, Nix did not exactly find something to settle in, but to settle for. A boulder with an alcove just large enough to contain their party was only a few slithers below. When the snake darted into the recess to investigate, he stopped at the solid rock face, overcome with hunger.

"Thissss looks like it's only a temporary habitation," Nix concluded, regaining his focus. "But I would gladly eat through some more sssspace, as odd as that ssssounds. We can resssst here, before we go... to the place we're supposed to go..."

 

[BoredSnowglobe]

Flora saw a snake-like Pokemon make his way towards it, which made the little Sewaddle puddle get nervous. But most of the nervousness faded when the snake spoke to Flora. “S...S...Sure... A...and my name... F...Flora...” It said in the most confident tone it could speak in. It didn’t want to seem weak in front of the little group of Pokemon. So Flora followed Nix to a boulder. “You... right. It would b... be a good place t...to rest...”

 

[The Quiet Zubat]

Arcanine covered the distance to the lab with ease using extreme speed. Ethel slid from his back, landing with a soft crunch on the permafrost. She took in the site of the building in the fading light. Streaming soot marks climbing up the dull grey cinder block walls, cascades of icicles pouring from the shattered windows of the upper level. There was no sound save for the low rumbling hum of wind beating the side of the lab.

Ethel entered the building through the front door, forcing the once automatic doors open with surprising strength. Snapping her fingers twice, she signaled for Arcanine to follow. Her heels clicked on the atrium floor, making a thin layer of ice squeal and crack under her weight. Had she been alone, she might have feared falling on the hard frozen floor. However, as Arcanine entered behind her, the ice melted in a small radius around the pair.

They moved forward, the quiet was interrupted by the sounds of melting ice and footsteps in puddles of water. Some of the water evaporated in Arcanine's heat, creating an eerie mist that billowed and swirled with gusts of wind from the broken windows.

"Anyone here?" Ethel said softly, addressing her pokemon.

Arcanine sniffed the air with odor sleuth, huffed and sniffed again, "Nine" he answered.

"So, aside from those five we've captured, they've all either fled or died..." She struggled to hide the annoyance in her voice. They moved through the building, occasionally stopping to check computers, light switches and incubators for signs of functionality. Security cameras drooped on their hinges around every corner, keypads were unresponsive, phones were silent.

"Odd, the emergency power never came on." She pondered, rounding a corner and trying to ignore the water seeping through the stitching in her shoes. "I hope the security footage back-up is intact" The tempo of her steady click-pth click-pth quickened down the hall toward security. Despite his size, Arcanine's footfalls made little noise.

The computer holding recorded security footage had to be pryed open. The disc inside seemed to be intact, free of any visible damage. Ethel slipped it into a spare sleve found in a nearby drawer.

"This should tell us if this incident was truly an accident," she spoke aloud, mostly to herself, "Otherwise The Project may have been compromised. We can't have Silph Co or the Pokemon League catching on too soon, our operation is still so delicate..."

They left the lab and sped back toward Site B. Ethel had an uneasy feeling DexCo was in trouble. Unless this was all an accident, someone somewhere knew something they shouldn't. The technology to fuse pokemon and create new beings was not exclusive to DexCo, but their process would make fusions and new pokemon more accessible to a certain demographic. They need only to keep their plans secret until the right moment, until Lydandre Labs waved their red flag.

...

Under the alcove Flufski huddled with the other creatures, careful not to brush too close to anyone for fear of freezing them even more than the arctic night that now fell.

"Nix do so good," they praised the snake, then turned their attention to the small newcomer, "Flora..." They mulled over their past experiences with small talk and decided weather was a safe subject, in a strange voice reminiscent of an old TV show they spoke, "Nice weather we're havi-"they stopped, embarrassed. The weather was certainly not nice and while the alcove protected them from direct wind, the air was still frigid.

Their stomach murmured and they grimaced. Dozens of voices in their head pleaded for food, again arguing over the best kind. Memories of home refrigerators and brown lunch sacks flashed by followed by images of old berry bushes and fruit trees on a familiar route they could not remember the location of.

"Tama...still need recharge? Flufski still hungry"

 

[TheJustinMann]

(So, uh... I still exist... hi, I’m back after... what is it, 3-5 months in hiding? I’m so sorry...)

AV was now at the boulder that Nix had led them to, a goopy creature named Flora with them. With some of the snow shaken up, AV had unknowingly absorbed some more matter, but not enough to make a significant change in his body mass. He questioned wether he actuallly like being introduced as “the ball”, but he decided that it was correct, even if he didn’t like it that much. He then thought about Flufski’s comment on the weather, and realized something. After he’d absorbed the heat from the sparking wires, he hadn’t really been cold. While he could tell the others were shivering either by chattering teeth, motor-like body movement, or through their speech, he hadn’t been doing any of this at all. That, and the fact that he had become more solid as the temperature hit. Instead of discussing said findings with the others, he turned and looked at the stars. While he was just saved from a helicopter attack, he was still pretty nervous and on edge about most things. As he looked at the stars, his body began glowing brightly, but not enough to blind anyone.