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[PKMN FULL] The Gijinka Project [M] [IC]

Manska

    • 127
    Posts
    11
    Years
    The Gijinka Project
    OOC Thread Here
    ​

    The room was dark and quiet, but even in the dim green glow it could be seen that it was plain, with floor and walls tiled a blank white, occupied by only a few folding chairs and a single computer monitor inset into a wall. The only noticeable featured were the "test-tubes", large tubes of glass running wall to ceiling and filled with a faintly glowing green liquid, supplying the room's only illumination.

    Suspended in a tube was a figure, each was vaguely humanoid and - with two exceptions - dressed in a lime green gown but that was where the similarities ended. They ranged in height from a frail girl just under six feet to a giant of a man whose eight feet of bone and muscle barely fit inside the tube. Some of them looked almost like normal humans, some alien mash-ups of human and beast. Most of them twitched and turned as they floated in the tubes, jostling the breathing masks strapped to their faces and the tubes linking to their skin as they dreamed. One, a fragile looking man with mud brown skin and stick thin limbs cradling an oversized head coated in bone, was deathly still; a small light at the bottom of his tube, a steady green on the others, flashed red.

    They were the finest crop of the Generation Zero patients of the Gijinka Project, human and pokemon mixed together into a form that the scientists here claimed would be perfect on the battlefield. There were many other members of Generation Zero but many of the others were dead, either from destructive mutations of in some cases what little mercy was allowed them. The Gijinka here were the best of Generation Zero, the ones who had survived - up until recently at least - and who had developed useful features.

    And someone had decided to set them free.

    The first explosion was distant, muffled by the layers of concrete and metal running through the facility but more followed, punctuated by screams, roars and a shrilling alarm as months worth of carefully placed explosives and programming backdoors released all manner of experiments and wreaked havoc on a facility unused to seeing much more violence than a carefully monitored pokemon battle.

    Amidst the chaos, there was no one to notice when the computer in the quiet room blinked slightly, messages passing across it's screen.

    < ERROR >

    < UNKNOWN ERROR OCCURRED. EXECUTING CONTAINMENT PROCEDURE >

    <CONTAINMENT PROCEDURE FAILED, FILE CONTAIN.BAT MISSING. PLEASE CONTACT SYSTEM ADMINISTRATOR. AWAITING INSTRUCTIONS >

    < . >

    < . >

    < INSTRUCTIONS RECEIVED. EXECUTING ASDFGHJKL.BAT >

    < WARNING SEDATIVE SYSTEMS OFFLINE. SUBJECTS ARE CONSCIOUS AND DANGEROUS, VACATE THE PREMISES IMMEDIATELY. >
    ​

    Someone who had the eyes for it might notice a small tube pumping a purple liquid into each of the figures suddenly run dry. The effect was immediate as twitches became larger movements, eyeballs started roaming about beneath closed eyelids. The computer monitor beeped loudly, more warnings flashing onto its screen.

    < WARNING SUBJECT BRAIN ACTIVITY APPROACHING CRITICAL LEVELS >

    <WARNING POTION APPLICATION ACCESSED UNEXPECTEDLY >

    < ERROR ENCOUNTERED IN HYDRAULICS SYSTEM >
    ​

    The last message was followed up by a sharp hiss as the test tubes suddenly split open, the front half sliding neatly upwards into the ceiling as green fluid splashed out onto the floor. One final message flashed onto the computer screen, no one there to read it or hear the shrill tone it now emit.

    < FATAL ERROR CONTAINMENT BREACH >
    ​

    As the figures, now slumping in place from the supporting wires, began to stir a thin, nervous voice suddenly filled the room from a small speaker set onto the wall. The man talking is doing so rapidly, as thought he is afraid of something.

    "I'm sorry, I couldn't get to you. Things have gone wrong, I'm the only one left. The people who did this to you are still here, they'll realise what I've done soon."

    "They'll be coming for you, you need to run. If you can make it to loading area B quick enough I'll try and help you escape."

    With that he stopped talking, plunging the room into silence except for groans as the Gijinka started to stir. The first to move and take advantage of their newfound freedom were the giant and the small girl, if you could call it moving in the girl's case. She was a young thing, mid-teens at most despite her height with unusually orange tanned skin and long platinum hair. Bright yellow circles decorated her cheeks and a second set of ears, these ones brown and pointy, poked out of her hair towards the top of her skull. Other than these features and a thin tail ending in a lightning bolt poking out the bottom of her gown, she looked mostly human. She managed one shaky step forwards before falling flat on her face and staying down, twitching violently as small sparks of electricity ran across her skin.

    The man was much more successful, striding out quickly as though he hadn't just spent the better part of three years drugged and undergoing horrible experiments. He was a giant of a man even by Gijinka standards, easily breaking eight feet tall and covered in several peoples worth of muscle. One thing of note about him was that he was completely hairless and wrinkle free, his pale skin smooth and shiny. That was hardly the oddest thing about him though, that little detail would be the odd growths across his body where smooth skin abruptly became craggy, grey rock. The wasn't any pattern or rhythm behind the growths and they popped up everywhere except his head. The single largest patch covered most of his torso, starting just below his left shoulder and stretching down across his chest before widening out to cover pretty much his entire body from waist to just above his knees, almost creating a pair of rock "shorts".

    The man strode forwards quickly with a posture like that of a gorilla. He sounded similar as well, letting out an angry, unintelligent sounding snort as he surveyed the room, his gaze lingering only a second on the other Gijinka before they were ignored. Almost experimentally he swung a set of rock plated knuckles at the wall, easily denting the thin metal plate. He snorted again and just stood there staring at the wall, seemingly fascinated by it.

    The room was far from quiet now, footsteps and voices could be heard rushing outside. With this increased activity and the giant looking disturbingly pleased by his ability to smash things it was becoming increasingly unlikely that they would remain unnoticed for long, the other Gijinka would need to move quick if they wanted to escape.
     
    Last edited:
    Brandi Mitchell​

    Shrill screeching stirred the slumbering subject, piercing her ears and her skull like thousands of red-hot needles seeking to stake a dreaming deity. Her eyes, forced open from the rude awakening, are met with an onslaught of flashing lights that sunder her retinas. Forced back from the shock, her skin was tugged and her flails resisted by a hail of hanging wires that snapped away from her body just as soon as she tugs. Even as they freed her, they leave a lingering pain to taunt her nerves like the ever-pervasive cry that enveloped her, the light that seemed to slowly be fading away to provide her with a silhouetted image of whatever area held her, but whose sting remained. Even her nose and tongue were not freed from the assault on her senses, as the potent stench of some emerald brew clung to her form and crawled into very orifice. With her freed limbs, she attempted to steady herself against whatever was nearby, but her greased palms found only the cool, smooth surface of a cage, and her sensitive soles met with the rough metal grill that taunted her with its sharp edges. For a moment, Brandi had thought she was in hell.

    Her panicking hands grasped at whatever surface was nearby, searching for any surface that could support her through the haze of pain and system shock. Slamming against the barrier that surrounded her, and finding it impenetrable, they soon found the gaping black hole in Brandi's vision, as the rest of it was branded by flashes of bright red and burning white. The subject yanked herself forward with more strength than she could have estimated, the rapid shooting of her nerves more than enough to distract from controlling the encumbrance of her form. As soon as she felt herself begin to tumble forwards, the young woman sought to stop her progress. Just outside of the cage, she felt some form of comfort wash over herself; for the moment, she was freed from most of her bondage. Two thick wires still clung to her, one reaching beneath whatever garment she bore while the other pinned itself to her skull. She wished them away, and, with the shimmer of purple across her vision, the wires fell to the floor with a deafening thud.

    The light finally seemed to fade away. The area around Brandi finally started to become clear, with the silhouettes slipping into depths and colors, almost back to how she would have been able to see with the eyes of a mortal. Directly facing her was a grey wall, sleek and covered with a few bumps where wires had been ran through it. Teasing at the edges of her vision were the the transparent walls of glass that had served as a booth for her and the liquid that still clung to her skin. All it took was a glance at the floor in front of her to see just what it had been; a large puddle of green-tinted liquid that seems halfway between gel and water. Along with her sight came her scent, and she was able to identify the scent of medical alcohol. Perhaps that was all she needed to know, for the moment, as she felt the pricks along her body where the wires had been as similar to the few times when she had been injured as a child. The pricks of needles, or what she imagined an IV would have felt like. Yet the common signs of a hospital didn't quell her curiosity, didn't mesh with the way everything seemed to be laid out. None of it fit.

    Next came the flood. The glimpse of joy in her past, when she had been proud of an act, of meeting with a person, before it ended in sudden blackness. Then memories which she couldn't grasp, or didn't even exist, between that moment and the moment in which she awakened in the prepared booth behind her. But the past wasn't all she could see. For the present, her senses sought out everything they could. Although identifying the alarm, she heard what came past them; voices in the distance holding conversation and fears all too clear to her, processing every spoken word. She heard the heartbeats, those slowed of the people to either side of her, those quickened of the people who ran in the halls. Steps both sprinting and shambling, the rumbling after-effects of explosions that come, leave, and linger even while the walls crumble and the ground makes way for shrapnel and splattered blood. Then the scents, which stayed for longer than the sounds. The perfume left on the monitor by trailing fingers, the soft scent of a depraved tryst in the darkened corners of the facility, and hundreds of other imprints left by innocuous actions that happened and even some that might have been.

    Even with senses that reached so far, none could have been more disturbing than that of her sight. Piercing the shadows and magnifying every little detail, processing any image or particle and bringing forth thoughts that should have been long forgotten. Nothing was left unanalyzed, not even the most minute of ephemera. There was a cluster of little pink shavings in the corner, dotted with particles of paper, and met just a few inches away by a black mark on the floor, semi-circular and facing where wall-met-wall. Beside that, there was a shelf, upon which clipboards and pencils sat arranged for quick recording of data, with a small pot of pencils right beside it. Atop one pencil, an eraser with a curve that sloped too sharply, with the paper on the top clipboard bearing a worn-down entry where the penciled-in writing was just a little bit thicker, blacker, and wonkier than the rest of the entries. With the senior workstation resting nearby, Brandi could only conclude that whichever person entrusted with the clipboard had turned quickly on their heel and clutched the clibpoard and pencil to their chest, changing the data as quickly as they could without their superior, or indeed anyone else, noticing their sabotage of the data. Thus the sloppy work, the danger of their action forcing them to ignore the tertiary results of their action in order to avoid more immediate suspicions.

    Everything around her was processed, and the flux of information, while overwhelming at first, simply became an odd sensation to the freshly-emerging subject. It didn't tax her mind as much as she'd thought it had, as it followed several thought processes at once, progressing through each of them just as rapidly as she had shied away from the light. The level of detail she noticed was almost passive, while allowing her to make a decision as to what to do next fairly swiftly. There were many other creatures around her, all of them mutated and formed from the template of Pokemon; that much could be identified by even the slowest of minds. While many were still recovering, still emerging from their respective states of stasis, although some not as quickly as the others, two had recovered even before herself, for whatever definition one could use for recovered when she didn't have the necessary information available to determine the precise nature of the experiments, for that was what the area surrounding her indicated they must have been, but they were alive, at the very least. Although one of them seemed far less so than the other, as her stunted mind failed in basic motor control, while the other slammed his fist against the thickly-armored wall with an expression bearing much similarity to an aroused brute.

    With Brani's surroundings sufficiently cataloged, all that was left to elaborate on and examine was that of her own body. And, through the information gathered from everything around her, either it was by pure coincidence or malice that she found herself similarly bound, or...the inevitable conclusion that she was a test subject similar to everything else gathered in those prisons of preserving gel and invasive machinery. A sufficient examination of her entirety would take a mirror or other reflective surface to identify in full, along with a few other catalysts in order to get a thorough reading, but, for the moment, she could attempt to gather what she could. The young woman's mind halted itself for a moment, pondering whether it would be the wisest of actions to put herself through the system shock that was all but certain to follow any discoveries of mutation or changes to her own body. It would surely have been devastating. Yet, not doing so would simply mean that the dread of what may have happened, what changes may have been made, would eat up her thoughts through the sheer force of emotions, which were definitely present regardless of the amplified effects of her logical mind. In the end, it was for the best that she look herself over and become familiar with herself. Nothing could be gained through ignorance, after all.

    First, the subject raised one liquid-soaked arm and hand before her eyes. Her skin had been shifted to the most pale shade of alabaster she had ever laid her eyes upon, while whatever fat may have rested on her bones having slipped away, along with the muscles that laced around her bones having grown and toned themselves, while increasing in density, leaving them overall slimmer, but possessing far better ability to respond to her wishes. Combined with the quick-thinking of her new mind, she noticed increased hand-to-eye co-ordination and a form that followed her commands with extreme precision. In addition, any hair or imperfections that may have existed has quite simply disappeared, leaving a surface like smoothed marble. Her other arm was much the same, and stroking each revealed that her skin retained its softness, and even became moreso, from what it was before. The sight of even just her arms having changed so much caused a lump to rise in Brandi's throat. Such changes were insignificant compared to what she could determine of the other people around her, but they portended far greater changes for the rest of her form. Still, her decision had been made, and the blaring alarms meant that she didn't have any time to change it.

    So, Brandi continued the examination of her mutated body. Her eyes rolled along her arms, and were slightly relieved to find that a green hospital gown covered most of her body. It gave some implication that the scientists weren't perverts which she might have expected given the scent she'd picked up and the general depravity of humankind as a whole, along with whatever malice lurked in the hearts of those who would perform experiments on unwilling subjects. In addition, it meant that she wouldn't have to take everything in at once. Still, from her glance downwards, she could see that her body had changed since the last time she laid eyes upon it. It had become far more slender, almost shockingly so, presumably to allow for the better and more graceful movements to compliment the lack of air resistance that seemed to be the status quo for her biology. Yet, beginning at her hips, her body flared. They now seemed to be quite wide indeed. And she could feel her legs, yet something was causing her hospital gown to be propped up as it was. With the urge to check what surrounded her legs, the gown shifted and allowed Brandi to see a feather-light series of linked plates, almost like petals woven together, that hung from her hips and allowed her to feel the flow of air from beneath herself, like some kind of fleshy skirt.

    Finally, there was the moment to feel her head. A few experimental twists revealed that, at the least, she possessed that of a regular humanoid. Opening her lips and flicking out her tongue, along with a brief hum, revealed that her mouth remained largely the same, and taking a breath with her nose revealed that it was similarly unchanged. Her eyes could still blink and her ears could still her, yet something still felt different. Her hair was lank from being laced with the green ooze, yet just wanting to dry her hair made it wrap around itself, tightening and rinsing out the liquid before it came to rest again. She idly picked up a lock and brought it before her eyes; it was green. Judging by the other subjects, many of whom retained hair that wasn't green, she judged that it was another result of her personal strain of anomalies. With trembling fingers, Brandi closed her eyes and raised her fingers across her face. Everything was normal, until they reached her forehead, and found a fleshy plate, almost chitinous, that adorned her brow. They found only more, each hand following each side of her head to find the spikes that rested on either side that molded with her ears. She resisted the urge to scream, forcing herself to focus on where she was, as opposed to what she was. Her curiosities had been sated enough.

    There was a struggling girl, and the instructions of a voice. Brandi dashed across the floor to the girl who stumbled as she listened to the instructions of the voice. They seemed simple enough, and although there were many scenarios in which they could have been deceptive, the changed young woman knew that it would the most immediate chance to get some more answers as to the nature of their situation, and precisely what transpired. So she would follow its instructions, for good or ill, but, for the moment, there was a far greater worry to have, for the little woman who was shuddering on the ground and left completely helpless to whatever was going on around her. Pangs of worry had been shooting through Brandi as soon as she'd laid eyes upon the girl, along with the urge to reach out and help heal her. Rather dissimilar to the muscled creature that slammed his bulk against the wall, who she'd deemed as a threat just as quickly. It would be in her best interests to avoid him as much as possible, for the time being, while aiding whoever struggled with the initial process of emerging from their tanks.

    "My name is Brandi Mitchell..." Brandi introduced herself to the girl before touching her, aware of the thin barrier that formed almost imperceptibly around her own body with her concerns about the sparks harming her own form. She knew that it would protect her to some small degree, and that was enough, because a few burns would be nothing compared to the potential fate of the young woman if she didn't help. Kneeling beside her let Brandi know, just by judging the scale of the room, that she'd grown far taller than she used to be. She reached out, her hands bathed in a pale golden glow, and slid one hand over the young woman's back, using the other to turn her over. She supported the girl with each arm before lifting her up with strength not befitting what she was used to, yet ably controlled. The glow around her hands flowed into the young woman, seeking to knit together her injuries and clear her mind, as Brandi tried to smile at her. "And I'm here to help."​
     
    Almost imperceptibly, Nissha could hear the faint sounds of the alarms blaring throughout the underground complex. "Wh?…" Her mind was groggy and it took a tremendous amount of effort even to think. "What?…" She felt a flood of warm liquid rush past her, leaving her exposed to the cold air. The abrupt change in temperature shocked her into a more awake state and she slowly opened her eyes. Everything was blurry at first, just as it sometimes is when you first wake up from a long sleep. The world was a muddled mixture of grey and and green. Nissha raised her hand up to rub her eyes instead found some sort of mask that was covering her face. She grabbed it and tore it away with ease, breathing the free air once more. In the background, a strange sounding voice was coming from the walls. "...sorry, I couldn't... gone wrong... people who did this… realize…" Still only semi-conscious, she steadied herself on the wall next to her and took a shaky step out onto the watery floor. The cords that were attached to her leg snapped off with minimal pain. She took another step, both feet now outside the test tube, though she continued to lean on the wall for support.

    Nissha looked down behind her to see what had just snapped off her legs. Her vision was becoming clearer and she could now make out the many thin, black cables that lay in tangles on the floor. A flash of concern ran through her mind. Why were a bunch of cables attached to her legs? She looked to the arm she was using to steady herself and found the same black cables attached to it. She quickly yanked her arm away in fear, separating herself from most of the remaining cables. Unfortunately Nissha's fear only increased as she stared at the arm she had just pulled away. Underneath the glistening green liquid that still clung to her body, her hand and almost her entire forearm were a sickly grey colour. And… her fingers… what happened to her fingers? She turned her hands over in front of her face, hoping to find the edges of some weird clawed gloves without any luck. Somehow, and she had absolutely no idea how, her fingers had been turned into claws. Fear and panic swelled through her body as she was finally aware enough to examine the situation.

    There were others like her who were stumbling out of cylindrical glass chambers that lined the walls. They looked like human lab rats except, well, not quite human anymore. Had she come out of a glass cylinder too? Nissha turned to look behind her but felt a pull on the back of her head. She raised her deformed hands up behind her head to find that one last cable was still attached to her. Taking a deep breath, she braced herself and pulled the cable loose, a shiver running down her spine as it came free. She held it in her hands as she turned to stare at the empty chamber where she had once been held. "What's happening to me?" she asked no one in particular as she continued to stare straight ahead in shock.

    A loud crash nearby shook her out of her immobile state and she quickly turned to see a giant man covered in rocks smash his powerful fist against the wall. The muscly man grunted in an animalistic fashion and stood there in a daze. Just behind the smashed-up wall Nissha could hear loud sirens blaring and the sounds of people screaming and creatures roaring. Something terrible was going on here and she wanted no part in it. People had been turned into these half-human monsters and now it sounded like the monsters had gotten free and were rampaging just on the other side of that wall. Suddenly the strong metal door that separated them from the screaming seemed as thin and as frail as paper.

    As the rising sensation of dread filled her heart she found herself quickly overheating. It felt as if the very blood within her veins was on fire. Nissha tried to calm herself with some of the meditative techniques she had learned over the years. Breathe In. Breathe Out. Breathe In. Breathe Out. She managed to slow her heartbeat somewhat and tried to keep her calm despite the disastrous situation. After all, she had been training for situations like this for the past two years. Now was the time to use what she had learned. To her right she noticed a very tall, thin, porcelain woman with green hair carrying an unconscious young girl with orange skin. "Do you need help?" Nissha asked aloud, glad to hear her voice hadn't changed like her arms and legs had.
     
    *bulbagarden.net image removed*William Lester - Unknown

    Stirring softly, the body of the man trapped in one of the glass tubes moved about softly, as the error messages flashed across the monitor in the middle of the room. It seemed as if he was slowly getting thrown into worse and worse nightmares by the moment and about to jerk awake. The tube slowly opened, causing the liquid that had been covering him to splash onto the floor. His eyes slowly fluttered open, followed by two hacking coughs from him as he raised a leg, instinctively stepping forwards, the wires attached to him as well as only just now awakening causing him to misjudge his step, which landed on the edge of the tube, causing him to tumble forwards, onto the wet floor, on his side, with a pained grunt.

    "Nngh! Wh… where…"
    Squinting his eyes softly, he lay on this side, breathing heavily while listening to the voice now speaking, slowly starting to get his bearings while raising a hand to press against the floor, lifting himself somewhat off of it. As the voice in the speakers died away, William blinked his eyes open, as if seeing his sorroundings for the first time, his eyes widening at the sight of the various… beings, now emitting from the tubes they had been caught in.

    A sudden shock was sent through him, as vague memories of needles, tubes, liquid and… experimentation came back to him in flashes. He didn't have any tangible memories to pick out, but he knew that someone had done –something- to him… and seemingly the others here as well. Noticing the odd growths on most of them, like a tail, changed skin colours and so on, William's eyes widened as he raised his own hands and, to his shock, found that his skin had turned a faint shade of dark purple, with his arms from his wrists and up to his elbows being semi-see through.

    "Wh- w-what the hell's going on?!" His eyes were wide as he stumbled to his feet, his legs still somewhat weak from having been trapped for so long, glancing around himself as he shakily steadied himself, ignoring the fact that he was only wearing a lime green gown, for now at least. The voice had told him, and the others, that someone, probably the ones that had put them there, were coming for them. It didn't take a genius to figure out that they were probably viewed as dangerous freaks of nature, and that whoever put them here, was intending on keeping them.

    He took another moment to look down at his purple hands and his see-through arms, shutting his somewhat glowing, yellow eyes and taking a deep breath. He then opened them and looked around at the others, slowly figuring out what was going on themselves.

    "… I don't know what you lot are planning to do, but –I'm- getting the hell out of here while I still have the chance!"

    Turning, he strode over to the only doors in the room, not in the least bit curious about figuring out why, how, when or any of the multitudes of questions he could have been asking. He simply wanted to get out, get away from this place… and then, he could think. This felt like a prison, which was slowly being filled with water, and he was determined to get out before drowning.

    ​
     
    Powers
    Spoiler:

    Location
    Spoiler:

    Roku Sill – Mightyenea Gijinka​

    ​


    Some primary light shines bright into my face, I see a few flickers like some obsessive birds have passed by, and soon, my sight stops blurring so that I may see where I am. Many liquids are being transported in pipes, so much machinery is beeping, controlled by some insane computer; all this is new to me. I stretch out my arms, shocked to see that they are covered in pitch black fur, not my arms, just my hands, plus about an inch or two of arm length which makes them sort of look like very thick gloves. My feet look the same as my gaze passes down my the green robe I'm wearing, except they are a little deformed than a regular human foot, these are paws not feet, although you wouldn't ever notice if you were me or up close. I don't have much time for questioning why I am so, so instead I let myself lie to the ground, confused over everything happening. My mind won't even let me think about a thing.

    A sudden voice calls, although I don't hear much of this but I manage to pick up a few words, like get out of here, and run. All words symbolising my escape. I slowly get myself up to the sight of fleeing victims, all heading in one general direction, so if instinct serves me right I follow on. The walls are so dark, I don't know how to traverse without hitting my head of something dark and being knocked out incautious like some ignorant fly.

    "… I don't know what you lot are planning to do, but –I'm- getting the hell out of here while I still have the chance!" I hear someone say. I on the other hand am a little more calm but I decide perhaps it's best to follow the source of this voice for answers, as he strides towards the doors. For some odd reason I'm running in front of him pushing the doors open for him. Why did I do that? I look at him confused at myself as I await a response. Now that I look at him he very much symbolizes a haunter in some ways. I'm sure that's coincidence.

    "S-Sorry, I guess it was instincts to go and help you out - er hehe." I tried to smile at him yet somehow I don't think he was enthralled by my amazing skills. I'm calm however that's a plus.     ​
    Gains: Nothing
    Losses: Nothing​
     
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    The girl twitched violently as Brandi touched her, half from the contact and half from the uncontrollable jolts of electricity. Her eyes remained screwed shut in pain but she started leaning into Brandi as the healing waves washed over her, tail lashing behind her like a whip as she eventually gained control of herself, stilling the electric currents. The eyes that slowly opened up t look at Brandi were a startlingly bright shade of blue, almost glowing with poorly restrained energy.

    "Thanks." she said quietly, one thin hand gripping Brandi's arm with surprising force for such a frail limb. Despite her height and strength"I'm... I'm..." she trailed off for a moment, voice filling with confusion as she began mouthing different sounds, rolling them around her mouth before deciding on one. "Nikki. I think. I can't remember, it's hard to think." Her eyes widened as she caught sight of the others slowly starting to recover and emerge from their tubes, huddling against Brandi.

    The unnamed male just stood there, staring at the others as they began to emerge from their tubes. He raised one stone eyelid as the mightyena-morph ran forwards quickly towards the doors but didn't react. Unfortunately the humans scientist on the other side of the doors did plenty of reacting in his stead, letting out a piercing scream as he saw the Gijinka before running off down the corridor quickly. He remained just long enough to give the impression of mousey brown hair and a stereotypical lab coat and then he was gone, calling for any help that cared to hear him.

    That would probably be a problem if the Gijinka wished to escape unmolested, and it seemed as though the rock ridden man realised this as he strode towards Roku, clenching his fists and barking angry words out. He wasn't speaking Kantoese or even his natural pokemon language - both of which the Gijinka would be able to understand - but some exotic human tongue that gave his voice a surprisingly smooth lilt, despite the harsh and angry tone.
     
    Brandi Mitchell​


    A smile couldn't help but spread across Brandi's lips as she felt the electronically-induced twitching and sparks of pain running through Nikki dissipate in the wake of a soft glow. She made sure that the young girl was comfortable in her arms as she attempted to huddle into her chest, carefully considering her words before she spoke again. "It's nice to meet you, Nikki. Don't worry overmuch; just try to relax and...don't think too hard." She tilted her head apologetically at Nikki for her thoroughly unhelpful advice, realizing that it's likely harder for those spliced with non-Psychic types to recover from the experiments, and that the changes made to a younger form were likely to have a more startling effect, at first. But, if she knew anything about biology, it would actually make it easier for Nikki's body to accept the transformation in the future, as her body adapted to it through its major stage of metamorphosis.

    Noticing Nissha's question, Brandi flicked her eyes over to the girl and, after a brief appraisal, gave a nod of her head. "I'll appreciate help. If you didn't hear me before, my name is Brandi; what's yours?" With that, she glanced about the rest of the events that were occurring around the gathered mutants. "Please make sure that everyone leaves their pods safely, as the others don't seem predisposed to helping them; I will go ahead with the fellow who can't communicate to make sure the path is cleared; I will mark the safe paths with markings on the walls. Call for me, if you need any healing."

    With that interaction continuing, she looked down the hallway and at the other three that were already freed from their pods, as well as the fleeing scientist. It wouldn't have done to have everyone charge out for fighting and delaying those who may have needed healing. Her mind urged her to attempt to take the man down, but she wouldn't let part of her emotions rule her, for the moment. There were others who would commit the act, regardless of her feelings, and it was not going to be in her power to stop them, or dictate what they would do. But she could easily guess that, whoever worked with those scientists, they were never going to be entirely without blame. Discreetly, the pencils gathered in their little pots were gathered in a purple haze and floated just behind the young woman's head.

    Brandi walked in front of the very large and very angry brute of the group and whistled sharply to get his attention, as he attempted to yell at one of the others. She fixed him with a fairly stern look and pointed down the hallway; a silent order to get moving. With that, and whether he followed her command or not, she began to sprint down the hallway with Nikki held quite firmly in her arms, shielding them from immediate threat with a thin barrier of energy, along with using her oddly enhanced perceptions to predict when they might encounter an enemy, so that she might lead her companions to safety. Whenever she found a route that had no obstacles, one of the pencils floating behind her quickly scribbled an arrow on the lightest part of the wall.​
     
    Lyra was laying onto the ground, completely covered in the lime green liquid. She had two black wires still coiled around her ankles as she hadn't managed to break them away from them yet. The blaring alarm rang in her ears, and the musky smell coming from the test tube liquids made her want to vomit. She listened to her heart pound within her chest and slowly turned her head sideways, with her cheek pressed onto the cool and wet tile flooring. She saw about half a dozen bare feet scrambling around the room. Through her half-opened eyelids she also noticed the door, in which seemed to be broken through. There was a giant standing over 8 feet tall near the entrance, and another being who seemed to be carrying a smaller, more frail looking girl.

    Lyra began panting slowly through her nostrils. Questions flooded her head. Where was she? Who were these people? And most importantly, what were they? She struggled to sit up slowly, but failed miserably as the thick black wires still clung to her legs, holding her back from going anywhere. She felt a surge of panic and called out, "W-wait! Don't leave without me!"

    At that moment she noticed her vague reflection of herself in the puddle of the thick and slightly sticky liquid. Her vibrant pink hair clung to the sides of her face from being soaked. She stared back at herself with her misty blue eyes that seemed as bright as the sky itself. Her small pink lips ushered a gasp. The bow that sat on the left side of her head moved slightly as though it was alive itself. She couldn't believe it. Surely this wasn't real. Although her memories seemed muddled, nothing about the girl that appeared in the reflection reminded Lyra of herself.

    She swallowed hard and began struggling with the binds once more. She seemed a little more panicked, this time around. Through a few long seconds of struggling, she managed to sit up and immediately grabbed the coils, tugging and breaking them with surprising ease. The petite girl blinked and stared. Was it normal to be this strong? She didn't remember. The girl finally managed to stand on her feet in her green testing gown and gazed around with her eyes. She stopped and watched the broken door again and remembered the message.

    These people were given a chance to escape? Escape from what? She couldn't recall at the moment, but whatever it was, clearly everybody else rather escape. She began running behind them, calling out, "Excuse me! Wait for me! I'm coming with you guys!"

    She ran down the hall and without realizing she put up a barrier around herself that emitted a soft pink glow.
     

    Julien raised a hand to his temples as his capsule opened, his eyes following suit until they hit a halfway point. Fear, anger, surprise, abrupt awakenings and a general ruckus spread through the entire facility; Julien could feel it, he couldn't tune it out, and it was giving him a headache. He rubbed his head for a moment, letting himself adjust to the craze. Someone had just broken all the gijinka out; someone who knew about the experiments. Was he one of the scientists gone rogue? Whether he was or not, anyone who was able to cause such a panic was worth listening to.

    "I'm the only one left," a hurried voice called over the PA system. "They'll be coming for you. You need to run." The voice then went on, telling everyone—the gijinka, most likely—to head to a loading bay. Were they supposed to escape? Julien stood straight and composed himself, pulling his little body into the air and hovering inches off the ground, wires popping off of his arms and torso. He wasn't so light as to just hop on a breeze, though his thin frame could have made it look otherwise; Julien kept himself afloat on psychic power. He looked about his body and noticed that not much changed from the last time he was woken up, aside from some fluid from the tubes being left on him that was quickly brushed off.

    Julien was still very small, even for a gijinka. Hell, he might have even lost another inch. He wasn't even five and a half feet, so quite literally everyone was taller than him. It was the DNA they fused his with—a Gardevoir's. It turned most of his blonde hair green, thinned out his entire body to where "slender" could be put to shame describing him—gods, he used to have muscles, and looked like he ate healthy!—and his skin made him seem like a porcelain doll if it weren't for the fact he moved. His eyes had gone from light brown to a pinkish red, and his power even spawned clothing (which he eventually gave up on trying to remove): a long white gown, a green vest with a pair of gloves that covered his arms entirely, and heels that rarely touched the ground.

    He looked around as others woke up, trying to get himself completely lucid underneath his half-closed eyes, and found that very few of the containment tubes in his area had opened with his. Most of them were actually empty. Regardless, he helped those remaining in the room they shared, calming them down and letting them get their bearings before he watched them run and fly out.

    Julien wondered if it would've been any better to stick together. There's no way they would have been able to just waltz on out. Still, he floated along at an otherwise liesurely pace, looking for a map of the facility and moving the rest of the chaos to the back of his mind. Finding a way out was the first priority. Getting to any other living things, secondary, if only because it hurt his head to keep getting closer to a startled crowd of people; and by what he could tell, it was just getting bigger.
    ​
     
    Velvette Haziel lurched forward with a groan. Her body felt heavy, she couldn't feel the tip of her fingers, and she honestly wants to just forget everything and go back to sleep. Unfortunately for her, the wires holding her up gave and she found herself sprawled against the floor.

    As she lay there, almost comatose in the pool of liquid that gushed out of the very same tube she was in, the girl tried to remember why she felt so horrible. Her best guess was that she got herself drunk from entertaining a guest, which is a foolish thing on her part. She must be in her private bathroom, if the wetness under her was anything to go by.

    The girl cradled her head with her crossed arms, accidentally tasting some of the strange liquid. It didn't exactly burn her mouth, but it clung to the back of her throat, causing her to cough and gag. As if it were some strange smelling salts, Velvette propped herself up with her elbows, still at a lost as to what happened to her.

    That definitely wasn't water, wine,shower gel, or whatever bitter compound she had the misfortune to taste. A sharp scent caught her nose, reminding the girl of medical sanitation. Opening her eyes are already a chore, but she managed to do so, although everything is blurry to her sight. She was able to focus for a second, seeing a few figures talking, and yet she can't hear anything.

    Great. Three of her five senses are out of whack, and the two that are working properly are not much help to her right now.

    She pushed herself forward, falling face first into steel flooring. She didn't try to get back up, she needs a few seconds to gather herself. And so, she lay there with her eyes open, waiting for her Sight, Sense, and Hearing to go back to normal.

    "If I didn't know any better," she tried, her voice echoing hollowly in her mind. "I swear someone threw a dozen flashbangs my way."
     
    *bulbagarden.net image removed*William Lester - Unknown

    Just as William was about to head out the door, a fur-clad guy came barrelling past him and pulled the door open for him. William barely had the time to react to the wolf-man, whom he figured must've been part Mightyena or Houndoom or something like that, apologizing and smiling to him, considering the scientist behind the door who threw up his arms and let out a shriek while running down the hallway. William glanced from the doorway, back to the guy in front of him, sending him a quick, tense smile.

    "Hey, no worries, if you're just as interested in getting out of here as I am, that's only a plus!"

    With that stated, he gave a last glance at the people starting to gather in the room, seemingly grouping up or getting some kind of strategy down or something. William was never much for groups himself, so he decided to just head out the door, giving a quick glance down either side of the hallway before deciding to take the route the scientist –didn't- head down, and proceeded to run through the clinically clean and white facility, his bare feet padding on the floor and his green gown flowing around him while he turned his head left and right in an attempt at finding some kind of… map or arrow on the wall marked "Exit".

    He came to a branch and gave a brief glance over his shoulder, seeing the Mightyena-guy following him. He gave him another smile, thankful not to be on his own, at least, even if he wasn't much of a flock-person. "Come on, let's see what's down this way, hopefully we can find the way out!" He called back to him, turning down the left branch of the corridor, his spiky, deep-purple hair barely moving at all, though they did seem to have a little motion in them.

    After having gotten halfway down the corridor, a frizzling sound erupted from the lights in the ceiling. William looked up and slowly came to a stop, just as the bright lights suddenly went out, coating the entire hallway in darkness.

    "… Well, crap."

    ​
     
    Will and Roku​

    The hallway that Will and his companion ran down quickly changed into a maze of doors and passages, almost seeming like it was purposely designed to confuse outsiders. Fortunately the exit to this maze was clearly marked with a large sign on the wall. It almost seemed to good to be true, and evidently it was as shortly after they passed the exit sign the lights abruptly cut out, leaving them in absolute darkness.

    One room ahead was dimly lit by red emergency lights and occupied by a panicking scientist, banging the now inoperable phoen he was holding on the wall. The room was large and wide compared to the cramped corridors, extending upwards three floors with balconies running around the edges giving access to more rooms. The scientist, revealed to be the one who had looked in on them earlier as they got closer, shrieked and backed away as the two approached him only to freeze in place as a clicking sound echoed through the quiet room followed by a feminine cackle.

    "Nooooo, not her." the scientist moaned in terror, ignoring the two Gijinka before him in favour of glancing about erratically. His terrified mutterings were interrupted as a thick tendril of sticky white thread hit him in the back, knocking him off his feet before pulling him up into the darkness where a shrill scream was abruptly cut off.

    Looking up the two would now be able to see a mess of thin strands of webbing cross crossing about the room, the scientist's body minus a significant portion of his throat hanging nearby. Also hanging nearby was a woman, long black hair and well proportioned body marking her as beautiful by anyone's standards despite her off attire of a prison uniform and several broken shackles. Oh, that and the long, striped spider legs growing out of her back that she used to move about the web. The woman licked a small trail of blood from her lips as she looked down at the two, showing off sharp teeth as she grinned at them.

    "Hello there boys."

    Brandi & Co​

    The Golem growled angrily at Brandi's sharp whistle, presenting slab like teeth that seemed to actually be made of some form of stone. Despite his aggression the direct approach seemed to work and he followed her down the hallway. What was a simple straight hallway quickly became a mess of passages and doors that Brandi's psychic senses guided them through, coincidentally having them follow the previous group's path until Brandi ignored a sign marked exit in favour of a unmarked door leading to a small staircase. The staircase ended what seemed like two floors up, where a plain white door opened up into hell.

    Well, closer to an observation platform over hell. Hell in this case being a large room about the size of a football field that held a number of plump sofas and had once been an attractive looking place to relax. It was now awash with corpses, human and a scant few Gijinka scattered about in pools of their own blood. The door has actually opened up to a small walkway running across the room, angled windows letting those walking across look down at those who presumably had more free time than them.

    A small group of humans had made themselves a barricade out of sofas in the right side of the room, several Scizor crouching before them threateningly. Most of the humans were wearing light combat gear coloured plain black - bold white letters identifying them as SECURITY - and toting assault rifles, but three of them were wearing heavier gear and the dappled blue and black camouflage of the Kantoese military, all three of them clustered protectively around a cowering man in an expensive suit. Curiously, despite the amount of firearms present, only one of the Gijinka corpses below had died to gunfire but rather they had large parts of their body melted away by some acid so powerful that it left a hole in the floor beneath them. Most of the humans had died in a similar fashion and several larger holes had been burnt in the floor.

    The mystery of what had caused this was quickly solved as a glob of bright purple acid hit one of the security staff in the chest hard enough to knock him flying out of the barricade, knocking him down as it began to eat through his chest. From the direction of the acid scuttled something that could only be described as a monster, weaving erratically around the panicked gunfire sent it's way.

    It looked to be a male Gijinka, and from the waist up it looked as normal as one could get. A lean, naked body was covered in purple-red chitin over much of the chest, arms and head, deflecting as many bullets as the weaving dodged. The antenna and solid yellow eyes were off putting, but nothing particularly out of the ordinary, until you looked below the waist. Rather than legs the creature's torso simply bent 90 degrees and kept on going until it was nearly 16 feet long, the bottom section curving like a snake and boasting chitin armour running down the spine. In place of feet it sprouted an extra pair of human arms every two foot or so which it used to move frighteningly quickly, clambering over the scattered debris as though it wasn't there and darting down into one of the larger holes.

    It quickly became obvious that the creature was toying with the remaining humans, popping up out of holes and picking them off at it's leisure. This continued until it noticed the Gijinka assembled on the walkway and started to retreat towards a doorway, letting out an otherworldly shriek at them as it pushed it's way through. Most of the humans looked puzzled but one of the security staff followed the beast's gaze and noticed the GIjinka and, ignoring a barked command from one of the actual soldiers, fired a panicked burst of bullets up at them. The gunfire was poorly aimed and aside from send glass streaming everywhere in a dramatic fashion it did little, most of the bullets either missing of bouncing off Lyra's barrier with flashes of pink energy. The Golem however, was hit, one bullet hitting him straight between the eyes as he raised his head to look at the humans.

    The Golem stumbled back, and then roared angrily as the bullet, now flattened from the impact with the hard stone coating his nose, clattered to the floor. Any sense of humanity that had been in his eyes was replaced with rage as he took a second to fix his eyes on the guard who had shot him before throwing himself through what remained of the window and landing on said guard with a fatal sounding crack.

    As a second fight began to brew below the door across the walkway opened with a ding, almost mocking the Gijinka who now had a choice to make.
     
    Brandi Mitchell​


    Brandi's eyes flashws wide open as she sees the bullet all too quickly slid through the golem's forehead, and the rage that followed from the positive beast of a man. The urge to reach out, to try to stop his following actions, immediately came to mind, but was quickly quashed under the knowledge that she would be unable to stop him, even if she were to try. All at once, thoughts flung through her head on how she could best handle the situation in order to get the most optimal result. Were she to go down to the field and challenge the rifle-wielding soldiers, who were already so panicked, it was likely to cause the loss of many of their lives, despite the great destruction that their combined power could likely bring to bear against the soldiers.

    There was also just the option to continue to flee across the walkway, along the path that her precognition had created for herself and those who followed her. There were always alternative options, such as hopping down to grab the golem and force him to join them, but doing so would likely only have angered him more, and the man's rage had scarcely been kept in check by her brief, but firm, orders beforehand. There was the possibility of trying to cease the fighting, which would also have involved wrangling the deranged subjects of the experiments, who were more likely than not even more damaged by them than the golem they could barely control. Because of the simple fact that they had already killed; the corpses were enough proof of that. As was the trauma that could follow from simply seeing such destruction.

    A fairly difficult decision to make, indeed, which is perhaps why Brandi's mind decided to analyze everything else in the room as quickly as possible, either as a distraction or to focus more of her brainpower on the task. A training area for either the soldiers, as such an endeavor would require some area for luxury without interfering with security, or for the successful mutants, in order to watch how they would interact following the full effects of their transformation; more information would have to be gathered after the immediate danger to many lives had been ended, or at least firmly avoided for a time. But, seeing the soldiers was quite the nugget of information indeed, as was their brutal, if panicked, slaying of the freed experiments. The military of Kanto was behind the acts, which meant that they would have to be more suspicious of any officials from the land in the future, and be certain not to spend much time within its borders.

    Brandi forced strength into her voice, despite how it wanted to waver at the decision she was making. "Do not follow him." She suggested to those who followed her, as she continued to hurry across the walkway. "Throwing yourself into the fire will not stop him burning."​
     
    Roku Sill – Mightyenea Gijinka​

    The haunter fellow, despite my lack of knowledge in regards to his title, continued to wonder in the western route, taking a sharp turn into a dark corridor, seemingly harmless yet the other corridor may have been slightly more convenient towards our escape. I follow him despite this distraction trusting in his choice and methods despite my lack of knowledge of who exactly this man is, my current understanding being he is in the same situation as he is in, and he is of a kind nature, otherwise he would have said otherwise as I opened the door for him earlier.

    The corridor is extremely dark that even a night owl of a tamed nature couldn't see. I can. It's a strange sense, but I can see without seeing as if the world is shaped upon every movement I make that fills me with such confidence with my strides that wherever I step it feel like space with inevitably reconstruct itself in aid of my strides. Suddenly the lights flicker so suddenly, that I am taken back a step as if I am the main character in a twisting horror story, and ever so suddenly does a door become visible that I can step through towards an array of red beaming lights, the calm fellow from earlier gazing beside me at the door entrance in horror. I fail to notice at first, but the red lights seem to dazzle so slowly, so blurry, that my sights have failed to correspond to my brain's requirements for a short period of time, but soon after as I regain sense, the faint glows personify the rooms shape, texturizing the walls and floor.

    "Hello boys," called a mocking voice so sharp that shivers flew down my spine like crackling thunder on a stormy night. Such amphibious posture it was hard to define whether this woman was more humanoid or monster, with such a form it was difficult to prejudge, nether the less I had such a feeling of evil that seemed to emit from her aura that my nose twitched with disgust like someone had literally just stabbed me in the gut and I was looking at my killer with a distasteful eye. Mournfully proceeding further steps rather begrudgingly I pose myself to a position ready as thought instincts had begun to control the side of me that was my Pokémon counterpart (unbeknownst to my current knowledge of course, as at the time I was still rather confused.) My claws spread out and a snarl begins to spread as my front arms stretches forth, claws positioned in an attacking pose sharpened and glistening in the slight glimmers of light that beholds from those red lights positioned in such an array that the light seems to bounce of randomly and show little seems of red dots on the wall moving with such speed at every breath I take in unison. I follow my actions after a few seconds with a sudden burst of speed, stepping forth by three steps, growling like a rabid dog as if I was wild at the creature before me. I stand in a defensive stance, spreading my arms out like some angel, and I hoped instincts would swarm my fellow friend behind me as I begin to grasp a hold of the floor with sharp claws digging into the floor for structural defence.

    From the corner of my eyes, without turning my attention away from the distinguishable beast in front of me, I also manage to notice the man caught up to the left of me with an iconic look of fear on his face. I fail to reconsider any movements I may make in the future despite the life he holds dear to him. If needs be he shall serve as sacrifice to save many others.
     
    Stella drifted into consciousness when what felt like a weak jolt of electricity ran across her skin. She was barely awake when the thick liquid that was keeping her suspended began to drain as the case that was keeping her enclosed began to lift itself. However, instead of keeping her hanging up in the now-exposed chamber, for some reason the wires attached to her body were detached from the machinery end, and she hit the hard, cold floor face first. Now, that would have knocked most people out, but for some reason, it was what jolted her to wakefulness instead. Briefly, the thought that the machinery used on her was surprisingly faulty in some aspects crossed her mind, and she felt a twinge of amusement start to emerge from her lips. However, when it came as something that an expert would be hard pressed to call a micro expression, she realized that something was not right.

    Heavy. Every inch of her body felt like lead, and it took a conscious effort to even cough out the green gunk gagging her gullet, giving way for air to enter her much unused lungs. Every inhalation she took made her feel like she was trying to do some weightlifting with her chest, and when she tried to even just roll over to her back side, or even take her leg off the test tube's pedestal, her movements were clumsy; her body wasn't moving the way she wanted to. Laughing inwardly, she noted that she was still face down and didn't know what was going on at all. The only clue she got was when she barely caught what the somewhat panicked electronic voice was saying, aside from the last part which she heard clearly as she had given up on not being intimate with the floor for the moment. If you can make it to loading area B quick enough I'll try and help you escape. She didn't have a clue about where loading area B was, though. Actually, she didn't even have any idea where she was. However, she did have some ideas about what she was there for.

    A guinea pig. That's all she was in the eyes of the people keeping her there. She didn't know how she got there, or how much time had passed after she was knocked unconscious, but she happened to come to one day right when they were dissecting her, and they quickly sedated her with gases as she began to scream in horror with a cracked and dry voice. However, she didn't fall unconscious before seeing them pour Potion at her stomach, and the flesh they sliced open closed up in a flash as though it was never there in the first place. Perhaps they were using her as a testbed for the usage of Pokémon medicine on humans, she'd thought at some point. After that, she began to regain awareness occasionally, sometimes while just floating in a giant test tube, sometimes while under some weird machine equipped with a multitude of sharp implements, and sometimes while being observed closely... sometimes too closely. Every time, she felt that the timing was arbitrary, but she had a feeling that the instances were becoming more frequent, and every time, they seemed to have made the sedative more potent. Perhaps, she thought, their experiments caused her body to autonomously counter the effects of the drugs. It was a silver lining amidst all of the misfortune, she supposed, as she knew that too much drug intake would have poisoned her body and killed her outright.

    She shook her head lightly and returned to the present. There were more pressing matters to be concerned with at the moment, and the past was past. If she wanted to escape as the earlier voice had suggested, then every second was vital, so she couldn't spend half the day kissing the floor. She heard sounds from around her - the rhythmic banging of rock on steel, the flopping sounds of a fish out of water, light conversation, the sounds of foot hitting ground. She wasn't alone in the room, she'd concluded, which made her wonder why they hadn't noticed her for a bit. She tried once more to push herself off the floor, and her attempt was met with more success as she managed to prop herself up about three inches before she lost her hand support and fell back on to the floor nose first. It was getting frustrating, as she couldn't even properly grimace in pain, almost as though she was an infant still learning how to move her body, except while outfitted with a non-electronic Iron Man suit. Speaking of Iron Man, she wouldn't be surprised to see her nose completely flat next time she saw herself in a mirror with how it took the brunt of the abuse.

    Following the never-give-up policy, she continued her clumsy attempts at movement until she finally succeeded at turning over, in what felt like a whole year of trial and error. However, the first thing to meet her gaze was a fluorescent lamp, which she felt was shining too brightly for some reason. This was a problem, as she couldn't even squint properly, so she immediately closed her eyes and forced herself to sit up. From her earlier failed attempts, she'd figured that her body can still move the way she wanted it to, just that she'd have to consciously exert more effort in doing so. And so she pushed herself up like she was trying to bench-press the ground, and succeeded in her first attempt. With a feeling of triumph, she pried her eyes open once more and tried to make sense of the situation.

    She noticed that she had fallen towards the far side of the room, which had perhaps hidden her from the notice of others in the room earlier, while she was still struggling to even move. She looked at the ground to her far left, and saw a girl lying on a pool of green liquid. The girl resembled Stella's image of a Yuki-onna, but more than that, she had some wires attached to her, which reminded her of how she should have some hanging on her as well. Looking down at herself, she noticed that her arms were stained a dark purple, while her hands were an abyss-like black. Judging by how uniform they seemed to be, the coloring was likely not the sort that one could just wash off with a quick shower. Scrubbing didn't look like it would do much good, either. In the first place, it wasn't really a pressing issue at the moment, so she moved it to her "To look into after I get my butt out of this pinch" mental folder.

    She went on to pulling off the wires from her body, which was surprisingly easy to do, in contrast to how hard it is to move her body. Maybe she just wasn't used to moving after being encased for so long, which would mean she'd gain her facilities again after some moving around. It was a comforting thought, but not one she could linger on. She reminded herself that it was no time to be checking for signs of muscle atrophy, as she had to get her ass out of the place.

    "Now to get a move on," she said to herself, noting the dry and unrehearsed quality of her voice. She tried to clear her throat for a bit, and made a mental note to get some water to drink as soon as it's convenient. That aside, though, it was time for her to move. Pushing herself up to her legs, she moved her body forward in awkward movements that wouldn't look out of place in the flash game QWOP. As she did, she noticed a fiery-haired woman beside one of the still-occupied open tubes, and after mentally weighing the dangers against the merits of interacting with the girl, Stella decided that it was worth interacting with her. Raising her right arm while looking at the other in a movement that signified harmlessness, she said, "excuse me, maam. You wouldn't happen to know where loading area B is, would you?"
     
    The porcelain woman nodded, accepting Nissha's offer of help. "If you didn't hear me before, my name is Brandi; what's yours?" "I'm Nissha. Good to meet you." It felt odd dishing out pleasantries at a time like this but it never hurt anyone to be nice. "What can I do to help?" she asked. "Please make sure that everyone leaves their pods safely, as the others don't seem predisposed to helping them; I will go ahead with the fellow who can't communicate to make sure the path is cleared; I will mark the safe paths with markings on the walls. Call for me, if you need any healing." Without another word, Brandi hurried out the door and down the hallway with a bunch of pencils floating behind her head. Nissha stood still for a moment and looked incredulously at where Brandi had once been. Whoever this girl was, she sure had gotten used to her mutation pretty quickly. She envied both Brandi's new powers and her confidence in using them. Levitation and healing powers? All Nissha had gotten was claws and grey limbs.

    However now was not the time to dwell on trivial matters like appearance. The people here were hurt and scared and it was her duty to protect them in any way she knew how. Some of the people - mutants? captives? she wasn't sure what to call them - had already fled the room. Brandi had left carrying Nikki in her arms, as well as the large, rocky man and a very pink-haired girl. Three others had also escaped from the dark room they had been held in: a man with purple skin, a boy with wolf ears, and a short man (or possibly a woman) that looked very much like Brandi. There weren't very many people left in the room with her; Nissha could only see two girls remaining and both of them were currently lying on the floor unable to stand.

    Nissha approached the girl closest to her and crouched down to help her off the ground. She had very pale skin and an oddly shaped mess of white hair atop her head. "Are you alright? Can you move?" She asked the girl while gently helping her up into a sitting position. "My name is Nissha. What's yours?" She listened for a moment and waited as the girl regained her bearings before trying to hasten their escape. "Listen, I don't really know what's going on here but I know that we need to get out. Do you think you can walk?" While Nissha helped the pale girl to stand, she heard someone call out to her from the corner of the room. She turned in the direction of the sound, noticing the blond wisps of hair around her head but choosing to ignore them for now, and saw that the second girl had gotten up and was walking towards them.

    "Excuse me, ma'am. You wouldn't happen to know where loading area B is, would you?" The second girl looked fairly young, maybe three or four years younger than herself, and seemed to be suffering from the same unfortunate change in skin colour that affected Nissha. Her arms were a bright purple and her hands a deep black. "Loading area B?" she wondered aloud, wondering why that place sounded familiar. "Of course!" The hazy memory snapped back into place. The strange voice that she'd heard as she was waking up had mentioned loading area B. Unfortunately she had no idea what that meant. "No… I have no idea where that is. I don't even know where we are." Nissha sighed at how unhelpful she was being before remembering that she already knew a way out. "Another girl, Brandi - she said she would mark the walls to show us the safe path out of here. We should follow as quickly as we can. Come on." She led the younger girls out of the room, helping them if they needed it, and kept her eye out for any pencil markings on the walls.
     
    *bulbagarden.net image removed*William Lester - Unknown

    As the lights had gone out, William quickly came to realize that his transformation had given him some sort of powers. At first, it just seemed as if someone put on a light exactly at the same time as the one in the ceiling went out, as he was easily able to distinguish the features around the two of them. He soon came to the conclusion though, that he was simply able to see in the dark, as the Mightyena kinda stumbled around a little behind him.

    "… Well, that's new."

    He noticed a light coming from a door at the end of the hallway and guided his companion down towards it, and once they reached it, the red emergency light lit up the room, illuminating everything, albeit a little dimly. As the scientist noticed them, William recognized him as the guy who'd screeched and ran away earlier, although he could've sworn he ran in the opposite direction. Before he could manage to react, however, the rather evil-sounding cackling erupted through the room, sending a chill down William's spine, just as the scientist was snatched and pulled up under the ceiling.

    What the…?!

    As he looked up, his eyes widened at the horrifying sight of the webbing coating the ceiling that the three hadn't noticed before, and even more terrifying was the half-spider woman who was now clutching the dead scientist. William unconsciously took a step backwards, ready to bolt from the obviously dangerous situation. However, his new companion didn't seem to share quite the same thought process as William. Instead, he snarled and threw his arms to the side before falling onto all four, surprising William at the show of ferocity. … Has he gone rabid? Oh god, what've I gotten into…?

    Despite the clearly life-threatning situation they were stood in front of, William didn't feel like backing away. This guy was clearly in over his head with someone as dangerous as this… thing, in front of them. He knew that he'd been… crossbred or something like it, with a Pokémon, and as such, he should have some sort of abilities he'd be able to fight with. He raised his semi-see-through arms in front of him and curled his hands into fists as he looked up at the spider-woman, swallowing a little down as he prepared to fight her with the Mightyena-boy. That said, he was ready to make a run for it, as soon as this other guy hit the dust.

    ​
     
    "Think we can just bust out?"

    "I don't see why we shouldn't try. If we can't, we'll still have time to catch up with everyone else. Boost us up, will ya?" The pair was soon bathed in red and blue lights, having been left behind by all the other gijinka who had awoken before them. The larger one, Ken, was intensifying the light he created as a purple blaze was forming around the feet of the shorter man in front of him, Len.

    "Giga Impact?"

    "We can't risk wasting time with a weaker attack. At least with this one, the result can't be debated. You done?" The light around them faded, and Ken signalled that his Swords Dance was complete. The flames crackling around Len fired upward and surrounded him like a shell, only for it to retreat into his body and disappear. He swung his leg out and collided with the wall in the gijinkas' containment room, swiftly obscuring the room with the smoke of an explosion. As it began to clear, the sound of glass shattering reached their ears.

    "Was that us?"

    "Nah," Len answered, stretching his leg out before examining the damage he did. "Barely even left a dent." The twins took the option of finding everyone else, Ken leading the way with his brother close behind and the growing noise of things screaming and breaking to guide them.
    ​
     
    And after a small break for christmas we're back in business!

    Roku, Will and Sylvia
    (Level 22B - Containment Block 4A)    ​

    The Arachnid woman looked almost disappointed at the hostile reaction she got, crossing her arms with a petulant sigh as she stared down at the two Gijinka.
    "So, that's the way it's gonna be then?" she said dismissively, fixing her eyes on Roku, who seemed the more threatening of the two. "You ain't gonna get far trying to cosy yourself up to the humans around here. First chance they get they'll just lock you up in a cage, poke and prod you till they don't have any use for you. Then you disappear." As she talked the woman's previously composed voice began to break, a hint of mania creeping in. Abruptly her throat began to swell outwards and with a hacking cough she spat a ball of web towards them, the ball exploding just before them and showering the pair with sticky strands as she ascended up into the darkness on her extra limbs.

    Roku quickly gathered his situation in his mind and with a powerful thrust he instinctively slashed upwards as his pose was already engaged for any matter or situation that this incident were to throw at him. The red light from the alarm siren darted through the room like little flys, commonly a distraction for the easily amused, as the Wolf Boy attempted with honour to cut himself loose from the thread that clung to him with no sympathy like glue; sluggish but inevitable, and with great effort did he fall over to victory, landing face first on the ground, not noble to say the least. Shaking his head violently he looked back up to where the demon had resided. "Coward," he spat, not shouting but to himself with little pity. With guts did he stand once more to his noble height.

    As the webbing exploded and showered down over the two, William instinctively raised his arms to cover his head, but blinked in surprise as he looked down himself to watch the strands of web pass straight through his see-through arms and even his solid-looking torso. He lowered his arms and looked down himself, surprised to see the webbing scattered on the floor under and around him. ... Huh. I guess... that's good to know. He thought as he looked up at his companion who'd just then torn up the webs that had been covering him, before tilting his head back to try and spot the woman climbing around above them, raising his hands back into his defensive posture, still looking somewhat unsure of himself.

    For a moment there was no movement around then but then the shadows themselves seemed to shift. "Better to be alive than brave and dead." the woman taunted, her voice echoing throughout the room. Suddenly she appeared from the shadows near them, the shadows around her shedding off her as though they had been physically attached. A dark aura of them still lingered around her fist, which she threw straight into William's stomach before quickly darting away. "Shadow Punch, useful against you ghost types." she said, taking a moment to hang upside down where they could see her but just out of reach.

    Noticing movement just out the corner of his eyes, William spun around to face the woman, just as the shadow shot from her fist collided with his stomach, sending him reeling backwards in pain, all of the air knocked out of him as he stumbled back and fell to one knee, steadying himself with a hand on the floor as he coughed.
    "Kffh! Ngh... c-come on, buddy, let's just get out of here, risking our life isn't worth this!" He called up to the Mightyena-boy.

    "I don't care," Roku responded with such agility, shocked by the sudden punch. He posed himself again to regain his balance as he watched his ally on one knee pleading for them to escape. He pulled both his claws to his face and looked at them both, intrigued, and with wishful, thinking the claws began to flicker, the few embers setting alight from the tips of the claws, and was soon spreading down into a ferocious flaming spike, ready to strike into the woman's flesh.

    "She's an idiot, for sure. I'm not just gonna give up. People like her pollute this world with their hatred. It's up to me to fix it." Suddenly filled with rage, the young Mightyena turned to the Ariados, hanging upside down where she was plainly in sight but just out of reach as if trying to tease him.
    "I don't give up. Even if I'm petrified like I am now."

    William pushed himself to a stand, taking a deep breath to steady himself while giving the Mightyena's back a little glance as if to silently ask 'Are you crazy?'. He sighed and shook his head, turning his attention back to the spider-woman, raising his fists again.

    Roku sighed as he shares a quick glance with William. He shrugs, unbeknownst to him of what William was trying to infer and turned his attention sharply to the Mad-Woman. She really was ugly...

    The woman grinned at Roku, "Oohhh, fire. Good thinking, if you could reach me that is." She paused for a moment as her eyes glowed, unleashing a quick burst of sickly purple energy at Roku. She ascended higher again and in the fading glow from her eyes many other figures strung up among the webs. Many humans had fallen into her trap but even a few Gijinka could be seen dangling. The woman was a barely visible shade as she skittered across the webs, waiting for a moment of weakness to strike.

    As the woman retreated to the ceiling, William's gaze followed her upwards, his eyes narrowing somewhat as he kept his hands up in front of him, balled into fists while slowly stepping around, this time easily following her movements with his eyes. "That's not going to work on me again, I can see you now! So... you might as well come down here, you can't hide in the darkness!"

    "Had a sudden change in heart then?" Roku said. He wasn't laughing, as his focus was still aimed at the fierce woman crawling above the ceiling like some repugnant beast. This is so stupid he thought to himself as he kept shuffling around for a good stance looking up to focus his gaze on the devil up top that looms over him like the clouds on a rainy day. Crap, what do I do now... The spider-woman seemed to sense his hesitation and a shower of purple needles flew out of the shadows aimed at Roku's head, the needles that missed leaking smears of poison where they half penetrated the metal floor.

    Unbenownst to the three Gijinka battling down below, not everything suspended up in the webs was dead. The strong bindings of the webs had suffocated and crushed many of the humans suspended there, but some of the Gijinka were made of sturdier stuff and one Gijinka in particular was waking, disturbed by the sounds of battle below her.

    Brandi and Nikki
    (Level 20B - Sector 5 Main Hub)​

    The doorway on the far side of the walkway chimed as Brandi and her cargo passed through, though despite the worrying sound it made no move to close on them. There was only a short section of hallway to go through before they emerged into another room.

    If the previous room had been like a football field then this one was like a building turned inside out, a massive slab of building scooped right out and replaced with a flat sea of cubicles and computers. The room was tall as well; a quick count of the balconies lining the edges would reveal it to extend upwards six stories at the least.

    There were numerous places to go from here, even a quick glace would spy 8 corridors heading off in various direction on the bottom floor and that wasn't even mentioning the staircases granting access to the various doors on the balconies higher up. However the most eye drawing way forwards was smack in the centre of the room where a mighty concrete pillar ran straight up into the ceiling. Arrayed around the pillar were eight glass tubes, elevators resting at the bottom of three of them while another carried a group of scientists up to safety just as Brandi entered the room.

    Unfortunately the room wasn't left completely empty by their exit. Five security guards were still lingering around in the maze of cubicles, announcing their presence with an ill aimed bullet that cracked off the wall next to Brandi. They looked much less threatening than the guards in the previous room, pressed in shirts and ties with flimsy looking stab vests strapped over them and wielding small pistols. The three Arcanine lingering near them made up for them plenty though, growling at the Gijinka and shifting closer to their human partners protectively.

    Lyra, Stella, Nissha, Velvette, Unnamed Golem-Gijinka, Ken and Len
    (Level 20B - Recreation Area)    ​

    The guards in this room were much more impressive looking than those Brandi had just encountered, both their white body armour and compact rifles looking sleek and futuristic. Unfortunately their futuristic-looking rifles lacked the power to do anything more than annoy the Golem attacking them, and their armour did little to protect them from fists that weighed almost as much as they did.

    The actual soldiers were handling themselves much better, one dodging nimbly away from a fist that would have took her head off and lashing out with a long baton that sparked electricity. Their rifles were quite different than the stylish affairs the guards held; bulky, heavy things that held more battle scars than gloss. They were also much more effective and as one of the soldiers that had hung back a bit fired a single shot a powerful crack echoed through the room and the Golem staggered back, blood flying from his shoulder where the bullet had pierced his armour.

    With their attention firmly fixed on the Golem the various arriving Gijinka went unnoticed by the humans below, but it was becoming apparent that the Golem wouldn't be an effective distraction for much longer. The Gijinka would need to make a move soon, before the soldiers below had attention to spare on them.

    Julien
    (Level 22B - Hallways)​
    In contrast to the situations of the other Gijinka things were eerily quiet as Julien floated down hallway after hallway, the section of building he was in providing unusually few diverging paths to take. Every now and then a shockwave would shudder through the facility and send the lights flickering, but other than that things were calm in his section of the world. Despite the seeming calm Julien would have the constant feeling that he was being watched, though the featureless hallways offered nowhere for a stalker to hide.

    Eventually Julien's path led him to a crossroads, the three paths he wasn't travelling down abruptly ending in doors. Two of the doors to his right and straight ahead, labelled "Cafeteria" and "Stairs" respectively, were closed but a third door, this one with a sign declaring it to be a "Computer Pod" was ajar slightly, a blinking light casting shadows through the crack.

    The feeling of being watched would slowly increase as he drew closer to the crossroads, peaking as he decided which way to go before suddenly vanishing as a childish giggle echoed unnaturally through the walls. through the empty halls, seemingly coming the Cafeteria door, which rattled slightly almost as if in confirmation. As it did so one of the lights behind Julien popped, casting the way he had come into shadow. Three doors, three ways to go. Or he could turn back, into the darkened hallway that suddenly felt extremely eerie.

    Elsie Chaney is still in the Gijinka Containment Area on Level 22B, where everyone started.​
     
    Brandi Mitchell
    ~
    Brandi and Nikki
    (Level 20B - Main Hub)    ​


    Brandi winced almost as soon as she stepped into the high-ceiling'd room, clenching her arms around the wounded young girl in her arms with the sudden assault of feelings that linger in the room. The last moments of death, from all of the mutants that had died elsewhere in the facility. The sorrow the men had felt, as they watched their friends and companions die at the hands of those that suffered from insanity or worse because of the experiments done on them. And the growing rage that followed. Then, in an instant, the emotions were swallowed; she couldn't afford to get distracted.

    The young woman raised her hand in front of her, focusing the energy that lingered around her into a tangible shield that could more effectively protect her and her charge from a hail of bullets. "Why are you doing this?" She asked of the security guards, her voice carrying across the room and making itself known, but never invading their minds. The guard nearest her flinched violently, looking half surprised that she was actually talking to him. He was young, the look of someone who had just started their job and was certainly not prepared for a day like this about him. "G-get back!" he stammered, backing away from her nervously, glancing over his shoulder at the elevators.

    "Lower your weapons." Brandi responded calmly, looking the man briefly in the eyes before she looked into the souls of the rest of the guards alongside him. "All I want is to get this young girl to safety. She does not deserve death." As she spoke, she made no motions to advance towards them. She just stood across the room from them, maintaining her shield and clutching Nikki in her free arm.

    The young guard she was speaking to looked like someone had punched him in the gut when he caught sight of the girl held in Brandi's arms; evidently he had had too much contact with the less sane of the Gijinka that the facility held and had forgotten that not all of them were insane. "How do I know you're not like the others? That you won't just kill us when you get over here?" he asked, keeping his pistol pointed at her even as his voice wavered.

    Brandi let the guard's words hang in the air for a few moments, letting each and every one of them absorb the fact that they were pointing their weapons at a defenceless young girl and the person who had taken on her role as protector without violence or intimidation. Then, she spoke.

    "I am not the one holding a gun."

    The guard snorted scornfully, "Like you need one! I saw that that... that thing back there was doing. You creatures don't need guns to kill us!" he seemed to be wavering between panic over his life and pity for Nikki. Several of the other guards were starting to move towards them, and the two Arcanine that weren't with the young guard shifted restlessly.

    "My name is Brandi Mitchell. This is Nikki. Please use our names; I know that trying to make us different from you makes it easier to kill us. But you don't want to do that." Brandi replied, glancing at the guards that are approaching them and the Arcanine that accompany them. "Listen to me. The killing. After a while, it infects you. And once it does, you're never rid of it. I understand that you're afraid, that all of you have lost people you cared about to those driven insane, but you do not have to choose this path. You do not have to become killers. It is not your job, it is not vengeance, and it is not right. If you shoot us, you are choosing to become that which you loathe. If you let us go, some will judge you. Say you were deserters, or cowards. But in the future, when you look into the eyes of your children, or your family, you will not want them to look back into the eyes of murderers. So let me ask you something, Chris." She met the man's eyes directly. "What would you rather be? A coward, or a killer?"

    By the time she was done talking the guard had given up any pretence of being in control of the situation, his eyes and mouth wide as he stared at the two. "I... I..." he stammered, looking at them gobsmacked. Nikki, who had been drifting in and out of consciousness, came to just in time to break his heart as she looked up, confused at what was going on since she had passed out. The guards started sharing looks between each other before as one beginning to back away, all of them keeping their guns pointed at the Gijinka except Chris, the young guard who Brandi had spoken to. As he backed away Chris stalled for a moment, looking almost ashamed as he glanced at her. "Stay away from level 10B." he said quietly, looking over his shoulder at the other guards who were making for one of the side doors, "The guys up there have been killing anything that moves, and they aren't even close to the worst of it. Things're getting worse anywhere the higher you go but up there..." he trailed off for a moment and then broke, turning his back on her for the first time as he ran to catch up with the others, his Arcanine lingering and giving Brandi a bark that she might have roughly understood as a "Thank you" before the two vanished through the doorway, a heavy steel door steel behind them with a beep.

    Brandi looked down at Nikki as the guards left them, giving the young girl something resembling a smile as she noticed her waking up. "So far so good. Try not to get too disturbed; you seem to need the rest." She assured her, letting her formidable shield slip back into one that surrounded her entirely as she began to float through the room, taking note of things she may have missed while she was negotiating with the guards. She took note of the little sign about the elevator, telling her that they were getting closer to the surface the lower the numbers got; which would be useful information for manoeuvring through the rest of the facility. Then, she took note of the little monitor besides where she saw the scientists heading up, which was to 14. She stood near the elevators, pushing buttons to check that they were working and concentrating on getting a vision of their mechanics to see if any of them were in disrepair, as they likely could have been with all the fighting occurring.

    Aside from the four elevators that has X's next to them they all seemed to be in good condition, though one had a few speckles of blood across it as though somebody bleeding heavily had passed through. All three elevators that were available had different ranges of floors available to them, one goign from floor 30B to 14B, one from 25B to 12B and one from the current floor to 10B.

    After evaluating the elevators, Brandi made certain that Nikki had not gotten any worse while she waited for just a short time, enough for any other Gijinka to catch up to her, in order to help guide them through. As she waited, she took one of the sharp-edged objects in the room and carved a large message into the pillar; "Do not go to Level 10B."
    ​
     
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