Chu-e had been busy on the pokemon training deck on his own. On a ladder and using a flashlight to peer down one of the vents, he probably looks like a maintenance worker of some sort.

The intrusion makes him turn his head, curious. From what he's noticed not too many people come in here all that often; he had the place to himself ever since he started doing whatever nonsense he was slowly planning out. So peggie vela's entrance does make him raise a brow.

The girl isn't one he knows and she looks kind of young. It reminds Chu-e of when he has signed his own deals with Rocket. He had been about her age, by the looks of it. The thing that sticks out other than her youth is her haggard appearance. She looks like she's been running a marathon. The line of tension in her shoulders and down her body is clear as well.

Unfortunately (fortunately?) Chu-e isn't a man known for leaving well enough alone.

"Hey!" He calls, as he makes his way down the ladder. Vaguely, Chu-e hopes that she doesn't recognize him. That will make what he's going to try harder. A hand finds his belt, a pokeball of his own tossed out. The Primarina does a spin in the air before landing, a too-sweet smile on her face. "You look like death. Sit and chat with me while these two beef."

Chu-e raises a brow at the girl, giving her another once over. Then, he shrugs; he wasn't going to force anything out of peggie vela. Hell, if anyone had tried that at his age he would have beaten there ass. And, sad as it may be, in his current physical condition, she very would could beat the fuck out of him one-on-one, scrawny arms or not. Was the life when you were chronically ill.

"Your loss. I had a cool story about being shot with a laser, but oh well..." Chu-e put on a bit of an over dramatic act, but he still went to lean against a wall and slide down with a grunt, until he was seated on the floor. He sighed, letting his head 'thunk' against the wall. He trusted March not to get into too much trouble.

Marsh, at seeing how the other pokemon reacts, wiggles her brows suggestively at him and winks. I'll give you a kiss if you earn it~ She seems to say to the other. Then she takes a deep breath, a puff of pink smoke and glitter oozing out of her mouth, dripping thick and hot to the floor. Her Misty Terrain sets the playing field up in her favor.

Ah, yes, moody teenagers. Chu-e had been there.

He opens his mouth to reply.

And then the laser shoots out. Again.

Chu-e's eyes snap open and he surges to his feet so fast his head spins.

"God"

Rushing to the vent, he grabs the folded up ladder and starts to put it in place.

"Fucking"

As quick as he can, he scales the ladder, fumbling for his pocket.

"Damnit."

A small electric screwdriver is produced and jammed into the screws on the vent, Chu-e nearly tipping the ladder over in his haste. The metal piece falls to the ground with a CRASH, bending lightly. His sharp gave snaps to peggie vela.

"Call back your pokemon and come on. We're finding whatever the hell that is." Unlike before, his tone is demanding. An order from someone used to giving them. He doesn't wait for her to reply, just calls back Marsh into her pokeball, from where she had been hovering close to Hull.

A new pokemon is tossed out, a Magneton. "Light the way." He order it as well. The steel type flicks it's eyes between Chu-e and Peggie before floating into the vent, body sparking and eyes glowing. Chu-e hauls a leg up and follow after a moment later.

The vents really need cleaned out, is the first thing that Chu-e notices. They're dusty and dirty, dead insects wedged into the corners where metal meets metal. The second thing he notices are the scrape marks, marring the metal and paint in long, thin gashes. Like something was... just up here. Crawling around. What the fuck.

Mostly he ignored if peggie vela replied or not, just expecting her to follow. Nino, the Magneton, is still floating ahead, eyes flicking back and forth and taking the beams of light with them. It isn't so bad while still around the hole he had made, light pouring inside, but otherwise the vent shaft was dark. A few spears of light could be seen ahead, from other openings still covered, but those were a ways away.

While Chu-e wasn't nervous, per se, he knew the value in numbers. He would wait, on his hands and knees, for the girl to join him.

"Kid, I don't know what that was, but that fucker has done that to me twice now. He growls that out. "I'm Choi, by the way. You got a name?" Since he realized, well. They skipped that step. But, he started to crawl, ignoring the clausterphobic space to move ahead.

"Look like one." Chu-e bites back quick, no real malice in his voice. But his tone is flat, focused, as he turns a corner. He feels slightly emboldened to know that peggie vela is on his heels, that he's not alone. If she's young and new, this will be a good chance to test what she can do. To see how far she can bend before she breaks, regardless of what she had been through before. While Chu-e might like the values of this new Rocket better, he also could see the certain benefits of the cruelties of the old.

"Don't know what the hell it is or why it's doing it. I've been reviewing the cameras. Ain't shot at no one else, 's far as I know." The dip of a drawl slips into his voice, Sinnoh countryside reflecting in it. Soon they move away from the spears of light and into the reaches of the inner walls. Machines whir and click back here as they force air to other parts of the sub.

They come to a fork in the road.

Chu-e chooses the left path.

He doesn't answer her second question, not thinking it worth his time. Chu-e had ordered it and that was enough reason for him, at this moment. His own curiosity and anger had taken him. Plus, what if it had been Plank alone in there? Some of the nerds in the lab? Chu-e could handle himself just fine. He didn't care if his life was forfeit in the name of Rocket. But those below him, they still had goals and plans and maybe even sparks of life. At the core of it, he didn't want them to die if they didn't have to.

It was not a feeling motivated by kindness, though.

"I'm not the type to sit with my thumb up my ass while strange shit happens around me. You take the bull by the horns or it guts you, in my experience." And this seemed like a situation where it would gut them, if left unchecked.

"If anyone gets mauled, it'll be me." Chu-e sounded so confident of that, as if he wouldn't allow anything less. "That happens, you run off, get Gavin, and tell him what happened and where. Just tell him it was Choi. If he asks for some proof it was me... just tell him I'm a rock licker. He'll know what that means."

So, peggie vela's purpose was revealed: escape and make a report if Chu-e got smeared on the vent walls.

Chu-e paused, for a moment, tilts his head tot he side. What was that? In the distance.... he could kind of hear....

"I think something's that way." Pointing, he directed his Magneton in the direction before he picked up the pace in his crawling, hoping to track down whatever it was.