The lessons had been tame so far. Nothing serious. Chu-e wasn't going to throw Killian Decker headfirst into the deep end like he had been thrown in all those years ago, expected to learn on the fly like he had. When Killian enters he gives a small, tight smile and nods in greeting. Chu-e, by this point, had no doubt made it very clear he didn't like what he was doing even if he was forcing it on the other.

Standing, he closed his laptop. A Gardevoir was at his side, Prince. He eyed Killian and his Espeon with distrust, arms crossed in a way that showed off his half missing hand.

"We're moving on to a living person today." He sounded- almost mournful. Not quite, though. Maybe resigned?

Meanwhile, the Poipole, like any other Ultra Beast Chu-e had come in contact with recently, would react to him. Be it with fear, confusion, reverence, curiosity- That was up to the Poipole itself. However, it would certainly be able to sense it's creator slumbering inside him.

The feeling of the Gardevoir's eyes on him pulls Killian's attention to it. It still didn't trust him. Understandable, but he'd thought they were starting to make progress. He smiles warmly at the psychic-type, offering it a nod before shifting his focus to Chu-e.

It's hard not to notice the man's lack of enthusiasm. There's a hint of something somber tucked away inside his voice.

In contrast, Killian's far more casual about the prospect of torturing someone living. Sixteen years in this life had numbed him to the suffering of strangers. Empathy was still there, somewhere, but it spoke to him less every day.

"That's fine. It's like I told you when we started. We're not doing anything I haven't done before."

Beside him, Poipole stirs with emotion. The light of its eyes brightens with interest at Chu-e's presence. Something inside the man calls out to it. It's a strange feeling that soothes the anxious beating of Poipole's heart. Without even realizing it, the Ultra Beast has begun to drift closer to the source. One of its tiny arms outstretched to touch the god slumbering inside Chu-e.

Killian notes the strange behavior but remains still. Curiosity is a deadly vice that begs to be fed.

"Where are we headed? I doubt we'll be torturing anyone in your office."

Chu-e Choi

Chu-e glances up at the Poipole and offers it a small smile. Gently, he raises a hand for it's outstretched paw. A little shake. Then he glances back at Killian Decker, somber again, and nods to Prince.

"I have everything all set up. Brace."

And that's about all the warning before Prince's eyes light up, works to Teleport all of them.

They're underground, no windows, a stairway leading up into darkness. This room is brightly lit, tiles on the floor and walls, a drain the middle of the floor, yet it's clean and empty. Three doors, one ahead, one to the left, one to the right; the stairway is behind them.

Chu-e sighs and moves for the door in front of them, opens it to reveal another tiled room, this one with various implements of torture lining the walls, a man strapped to a metal table. Something drips.

The man sobs, voice muffled with some type of gag.

"Killian, do you know why Rocket made me into a Beast when I was younger?"

Even with the warning, the teleportation is sudden and has his stomach doing backflips. His nausea slowly subsides as Killian takes in his new surroundings. The location is unfamiliar, but they're clearly not on the submarine anymore.

Lips tighten to a line in the face of the unknown. Though Chu-e has been nothing but friendly to him. At the back of Killian's mind, paranoia plays like a record.

"This is where you die. No one will know. No one will find you."

He follows despite the haunting melody inside his thoughts.

There's a notable lack of empathy for the man sprawled across the table. Better him than Killian. "No." he admits, "Was it because of your charming personality?" a light-hearted jest in the face of heavy darkness.

Chu-e Choi

Chu-e is quiet for a moment as he opens up a case, draws some type of dark liquid into a syringe. It's carefully measured, eyed until a thin drip seeps from the tip before the medicine is locked away again. Shoved in the man's neck and plunged down without rhyme or reason. The man starts to scream louder, muffled.

"I wish. I used to be a fucking asshole."

Pulling the needle back out, he places the syringe down almost gently on a small metal table.

"I was, still am I guess, Rocket's top 'information extractor'. Most of the Rocket Approved Techniques were developed by myself or my direct mentor. I specialize in physical torture. If you're good at this, you can mix that and psychological."

Motioning around him, at the various implements hanging on the wall, he nods to Killian Decker.

"This man has information we need. Get it out of him. Use whatever is in here or in either of my two other chambers you want. I'm just witness."

Killian doesn't flinch. His features void of empathy as the man screams in muffled agony. A dark part of him wants to find music in the shrieks, but clinched teeth restrain his desire.

"And what made that change?"

Bits and pieces of a past unknown to him whetted a curious appetite. "If you're that effective at extracting information, the man who trained you must be truly terrifying." the question is there, unspoken but in the air.

Faded, denim-blue eyes stare at the shackled captive. They dart from the table to the walls of the room. A slow scan of the various instruments bubbles macabre thoughts into existence. So many ways to inflict pain, and yet none speak to him.

He approached the foot of the table. A finger taps at the man's big toe, and it twitches. Lips pressed together in a line, Killian moves along the left side of the room. He traces a path with his fingertip up the captive's body, starting at his toes. Gentle, a delicate touch akin to how he teased Alexandra Briarwood.

The line is drawn from the man's foot to his ankle, ankle to his calf.

"What was in the needle?"

Calf to the kneecap.

Killian's finger stops.

"Loveless, the saw." the Espeon's eyes glow, and Psychic powers carry a small medical saw from the wall into Killian's hands. It's laid flat atop the man's knee.

Chu-e Choi

"Someone loved me."

His explanation won't go beyond that. Will most likely raise more questions than it answers.

"The person who trained me took sexual pleasure in causing pain. I don't." THEO BECKETT had just been the one to turn him down the path at the start. When he had proven to have a natural talent that could be refined he had been moved on to redder pastures, so to say. Sometimes he still had nightmares.

As Killian Decker goes for the saw, Chu-e is quiet. He will not give any indication of it he's happy at what he sees or not. A clean poker face.

"Dunsparce Venom, mainly." The stuff may be famous for being an ingredient in Charja-Cola but it could have darker uses. "Dunsparce are ambush predators. They're slow. So they hide in the ground and sting their prey. The venom prevents the blood from coagulating so they're more likely to bleed out. It's also a stimulant, keeping the prey moving and preventing rest...."

"In other words, when this shit hits your bloodstream it makes everything hurt worse for longer."