It had taken a while for Lucia to recover from the overwhelming pressure of being stuck as slaves in this mysterious location. Even behind her mask, the child's tears could still be heard dribbling down the side of her cheek. It was still terrifying to imagine spending the rest of her life here, but Lucia recovered soon enough with a sharp inhale. The mask was muggy and humid from her own tears, but she found it in herself to glance up at Hideo Kino and nod her head.

”O-Okay.” She murmured to him and bit her lower lip in uncertainty. Their wardens spoke up to usher everybody into the weird platform or elevator, while Lucia hesitated for a moment, then walked beside Hudeo as everyone gathered one one platform.

It was hard to discern voices from faces, as many people here were still unknown to her. She didn't even really know the person who had comforted her, unable to identify them based on the voice alone, but they sounded young like her. It was a small comfort to have somebody like that nearby and it helped with her confidence immensely. She quietly took her place beside Hideo Kino and remained quiet alongside everyone else.

Lucia could have sworn she heard the voice of Eris Halla around them previously, but didn't dare to look anywhere but forward now that they were directly nearby some of those weird looking Pokémon.

The trip down to the new destination they had in store was a bit longer than before, leaving Lucia with only her thoughts and fears to keep her company. She thought back to some familiar faces that had crossed paths with her, though, worried they too, were stuck in this hell. It was a scary thought but she just quietly prayed they were far away from this. John Sullivan no doubt would be able to save them from the moment they woke up. But Lucia had to stay strong so she could learn more from him when they met again.

”I wish you were here, Doug. You'd know what to do right now.”

The floor's descent had ended with Ana audible click as machinery settled into place and people were allowed to move once more. Unfortunately, they had been helped to get a head start on the punishment offered to them as the green canine would suddenly throw them off of the platform, including Hideo Kino.

”H-Hey! What are you d-”

In a minute, she was airborne! Lucia sailed through the air before landing on…something. It wasn't solid, which was nice, but it was gooey and very clearly not fun. She looked down at the vat of substance they all had fallen through. It looked familiar and purple, as Lucia held up a sample to her face. ”Mochi?” She asked aloud, though spinning it around would reveal some fleshy red bits inside. One of which just so happened to be…

An eyeball.

Another terrified Lucia scream later, she tossed the glob of mochi away and got to work quickly. The person that had helped coax her through the last task had buddied up to her again and got to work cleaning the floors. Their punishment, however, only showed itself in the middle of their duties, as a bipedal masked Pokémon would stumble out of the area above and join them.

And by that, they meant it would be their torment through the duty.

Lucia worked quickly to deposit the mochi in the bowl, though would oftentimes get a kick or a lash aimed at her. The person had done their best to keep it away, as Lucia stopped to look up at whoever this person was.

”Why are you doing this? I don’t want you to get hurt worse if I have to.” She whispered to Hideo Kino. ”I’m used to it.”

vWAdsC8K

TL;DR:
- Consoled by Hideo Kino and is slowly gaining confidence
- The smol and tol meet, as the smol sticks around him
- Taken alongside the other people who failed the first test
- Thrown into the disgusting mochi and begins to help clean it
- That strange masked Pokemon continues to try and attack her while cleaning up, though Hideo Kino interferes to her dismay

☉

Atreyu was given no time to reflect on his vote before the middle platform descended. Upon it were more people much like himself, likely from one of the other wards, though he didn't know which. Had the order been revealed and he'd already forgotten? Shit. He took another look around, hoping to memorize the surroundings, before being ushered upon it himself, practically stumbling into a group of people as the doggish patron shoved them aboard. There'd been no reveal regarding how the voting went. It was assumed that whatever results were had would be revealed upon arrival at their destination, but who could really be so sure about that? Their captors were hardly benevolent—they could choose to hold onto those results until a later time, or to disregard them altogether. In the middle of his musings, someone bowed to him, offering a simple thank you in return for something he couldn't quite place. Was she thanking him because of the vote? Did that mean the upper floor belonged to the Dummy Ward, then?

"We're stuck in this together—teamwork is important," he replied, letting some tension escape him in the form of a sigh. He could only presume she would've, and possibly might have, done the same in her position. "The human spirit is harder to break than they might think. We've got to help ourselves as much as we can." Or maybe the pokemon did know that and it was the reason they were toying with them so much. It was hard to say.

The groaning and clicks of machinery didn't go unnoticed as they traversed downward, going deeper than Trey would've though possible. Their destination was dark, and Trey lost sight of the person who'd spoken to him as they were forced off the pedestal, shoved into the new location blindly and without care. He tripped over something and found himself on his hands and knees once more, this time coming in contact with something eerily squishy and wet. The soft scent of peaches mingled with tangy, metallic undertones, Trey only realizing what the substances were when the soft light of the chamber below illuminated enough to give him vague ideas.

Mochi... and human flesh.

Dread threatened to drag him down into the pits of despair as he listened to the announcer, a sour taste accompanying the shift. As his mind tried to block out the unique, unholy textures squelching between his fingers, he honed in on what the Megalopolan was saying. The never-rot? Was that the name of who was in control, or were they talking about the essence of the toxic chains as if it was sentient? Trey's own chain tightened around his head as if it could read his thoughts, punishing him for trying to assess the situation. Still, even as he pushed guts and purple globs towards the center of the chamber, his mind raced, unable to slow even after being reprimanded. The opening and closing of a door caught his attention, as did a new revelation of information.

The Ugly Ward had been given a choice too, it seemed, and the results were being acted upon in this very moment.

Protests, screams, grunts of pain—all and more filled the space as the Dummy Ward was inflicted with their punishment. He could not tell that people had been tethered to the floor, but he was aware of something new moving throughout the space, skittering around and leaving chaos in its wake. Pushing more gunk towards the bowl below revealed something in the light: a creature on two legs, caped and twisted with its own set of toxic chains. It was acting too recklessly to be in control of itself; it was likely as subjected to torment as they very people it was attacking. He paused as he heard someone try to call out to it—

—and in his moment of distraction, a foot came in contact with his face, slamming into the mask protecting it. His neck snapped backwards, pain searing through Atreyu's body as he collided with the floor below. There was less squish to protect him here, and as his shoulder collided roughly with the hard floor below, more pain seared through him as the creature trampled him in its exit, stomping on his ribs and kicking him in the gut as it escaped. Trey groaned, unable to do much more with the wind knocked out of him. Sharp stabs bloomed from his upper body as he lay there, struggling to breathe and regain composure. If he didn't recover quickly, though, he was at risk of his canine boss literally kicking him back into action. Pressure throbbed in his head as he grit his teeth, slowly urging himself back onto his hands and knees. He panted through the pain, mind reeling to catch up as he forced himself to catch his breath. This was likely only the beginning, he was beginning to realize, and unless their captors were thwarted, this was probably far from being over.

Imi9Gr9y

Aubre McKenna-Settentrione
-trey replies to aubre
-tries to piece clues together
-squirms in the cursed playdough
-gets bodied by ogerpon (he's being trampled despite what the roll may indicate)
-pain.exe

☉