There is a scowl on his face (though thankfully the mask hides it) before… well, as expected, since they were the ‘weak’ ward after all, thhings would not be so hot.

For starters, his cellmate companion wanted to deliver vengeance at the drop of a hat almost immediately, however he would try to keep the other man distracted—or at least, focused on not rushing into things too quickly.

“Look, it’s going to be on you if you do something reckless,” he would whisper as quietly as he could manage, because he knew the walls had ears, “…so please, please try to hold it in, okay?! When there’s an opportunity, then we can move. For now, though, we have to follow what they want us to do!”

And apparently, this included being on clean-up duty. Nothing too hard with simple ‘clean-up’, right?

Well, that was until he got his hands on some of the mochi—and the rank stench of blood hit his nostrils. He also had a feeling that the ‘mochi’ wasn’t as what it looked to be, all things considered—why did it stink so much of blood, then?!

“Ugh,” he would grumble, the stench literally etching on the inside of his nose. Good luck getting the smell out of there, right?

Luck was on his side, and thankfully, there was something that he’d managed to avoid getting hit—before he flinched as his companion got a full-force attack on himself… yikes.

“Be careful—hey, are you okay?!” he would ask the other man once he’d thrown the handful of mochi into where it needed to go before trying to help him get back on his feet.

“Come on, let’s get you away from… from whatever the hell hit you.”

---

• Frog where are you please come save your husband!!!
• SEND HELP LOL
• on clean-up duty, rip the smell of blood will mess with him as he threw some mochi into wherever it needs to go
• asks his companion if he’s okay or not, offers to bring him back to their ‘cell’ to rest
• no Pokémon listed since they don’t have them with ‘em

They finally had a day to themselves that wasn’t in Fortree—because all things considered, when they were in Fortree and wanted a day of their own they would just end up hiding in the flat on the grounds, being total lizards and not coming out unless they needed food or were picking up deliveries.

“You know I have something to say, but I won’t say it—let’s enjoy the scenery as it is.”

He then snuck a sip from his own milkshake; never mind if he hadn’t finished fully mixing in the whipped cream with the chocolate body of said milkshake yet.

This was going to be either really fast, or a drawn-out match; because all things considered there was something coming, and he immediately pulled out the flecked metallic bird whistle.

(No, he was not going to Mega Evolve! At least not yet anyway.)

Rather than touching the strange keychain charm that hung off it (which was where his Key Stone was) he blew exactly one note; unheard to all but the Salamence, who immediately bellowed before calling up a sudden avalanche of boulders in the form of a Rock Slide attack!

An attempt to block the incoming attack was made; but would it hold?

---

• Salamence is out on the field; and used Rock Slide as a blocking / shielding attempt against the incoming Infestation attack!

Since he was going head-to-head with one of the top contenders in the VCT event that had concluded some months previous, he knew he had to bring his best A-game to the match.

(He was wondering if he was going to get a chance to fight the ‘cupine’ the other used as their entrant Pokémon there, since he’d gone into the danged thing with his shiny Braviary.)

“First time to meet in a ‘private’ setting like this, but I’ve heard about your run in the tournament that happened at Lilycove a few months back,” he would quip, “…with, of all things, a Shaymin.”

His eyebrows went up slightly when he instead came face to face with a Milotic rather than the Shaymin he’d heard rumors about… but he idly wondered if the other had that particular Pokémon on their person waiting in the back.

“You’re going up first against him,” he would remark as his own Salamence, swooping down from the skies and roaring from across his side of the open-air arena, would take his position.

“Ready when you are. Challengers get the first move.”

Maybe it was a good thing he hadn’t taken a Tera shard, because the next few scenes that unfolded pretty much dissuaded him from doing so—and what a nightmare it had been. Like, yikes.

He couldn’t bear to watch; and could only listen to the sound because that’s what having an overly active imagination can get you… extremely vivid visuals based from the sounds of agony and suffering alone.

He could only look over at his cell partner; once they were done being dragged through the dirt (in more ways than one) he would approach, and then hiss quietly.

“Listen—listen to me,” he would begin, in a voice so quiet that only the other could hear—muffled through the mask as it was.

“D-don’t do stupid shit like that again, you got that?!” he would warn the other.

Even though he was raring to throw a punch or two, fact of the matter was that the ‘space cannibals’ were there, like hyperly-overactive sentinels keeping watch over them.

He could only glare at the booger monkey once the strange Pokémon was done with his cell partner, before trying to haul him back so that he could rest.

“If you’re going to do anything else stupid, at least try to run it by me first, will you? There was a reason why we were both stuck together in this place.”

He grit his teeth.

“We only have each other to trust in this hellhole, you know.”

---

• Frog where are you please come save your husband!!!
• Birddad.exe gives his cell companion a bit of a telling-off
• no more stupid shit, okay?! someone’s gotta keep you alive for the inevitable escape attempt!
• Unwittingly casts his vote to TRUST in that last statement of his. (Will it count towards the total?)
• no Pokémon listed since they don’t have them with ‘em

There were so many things going through his mind, it was just… overwhelming to say the least.

(For starters, he hoped that Guillermo Marceliño wasn’t doing another righteous panic this time, because most of [if not all] of his things were back on the bedside table in their shared room back home, so… yikes. Yikes, yikes, yikes.)

Much as he wanted to rip the mask off and away from his face (the rank stench from within was already starting to make him feel queasy) fact of the matter was that he wasn’t sure if he was in a nightmare of some sort. Unfortunately, though, the screaming was all very, very real.

At the mention of ‘the three day war’, though, it felt like a trap door opened beneath his feet—squinting through the suffocating mask he immediately identified the ‘space cannibals’, also having the same strange growth coming from their bodies… which would only make things worse if someone among them were to fight, to resist, to—

His thoughts were cut off at the sound of the screaming, and then—and then the blood was all over the place as he watched one of the other prisoners in their containment cell get Final Destination’d to bits.

(Or was it Saw? He forgot. It had to be one of those gory movies that his partner loved watching during Halloween—the kind that would send him screaming and hiding under the covers because the sight of spilled guts and blood were more than enough to make his brain short-circuit and pass the…)

That was the last thing he remembered seeing, for a good while.

---

Sometime later, he would awaken—feeling feverish and unwell… to a plate of mochi.

Why did it have to be so deeply purple?! He looked over at his companion, who seemingly took a big bite out of the damned thing, but… he could feel his stomach churn at the thought of having to ingest something like this!

(Plus didn’t people tell you, the more brightly colored something is, the higher the chance it was extremely dangerous to eat?!)

“Are… are you crazy?!” he would rasp out, watching as his companion took one bite—and then—the next sequence of events made him want to hurl…

He thought he could hear familiar voices, despite him being in this feverish state… ugh…

The masks made it hard enough to distinguish who was who in the ward, so without much information he would… he wondered what would happen if he refused to eat the mochi?

(Then again, the human body could survive without food for several weeks at a time, but water was the more pressing matter among other things… was the water here even safe to drink?!)

One thing at a time, Alex.

First things first: where were they at.

Second: how were they going to overpower their captors and make a break for it?!

He would then reach towards his neck, trying to find two chains… one for a bird whistle, another for something else he always kept on himself in case of emergencies… but they were not there.

Nothing on his person was there.

He was sorely tempted to pull the feather out and try to blow either the ‘space cannibals’ or the big, booger-picking monkey guard out of the entire way and blast everyone towards freedom—but where were their Pokémon and personal effects stashed away at?! So many things to consider…

With a defeated sigh, he would reach for one of the mochi, and take the tiniest piece possible because there was no way in hell he was going to ingest something (against his will) that was clearly, obviously designed to make them subservient to… their captors.

One thing at a time, Alex. Get the fuck out of the cell first, ask questions later.

(And then the walls may as well have had ears, but.)

Once the tiniest piece of mochi had passed into the back of his throat, the wibbly, wobbly… the strange chain around his neck did weird things (he didn’t care to look) and he realized he could walk around, but not too far—

If only he wasn’t a limp noodle, he’d have kicked the ugly booger monkey upside the head!

But he had other ways to retaliate… and it involved getting his hands on whatever random assortment of Pokémon he’d thought of bringing along.

One thing. At a time, Alex.

He sighed through gritted teeth; he’d have to be careful as he set to work, hating his noodle arms for almost dropping the big chunk of rock he’d picked up and tried to smash apart, because they were looking for shards.

He recognized the tera shards at least—but how were they going to make use of them, if they had no place to hide them—

He idly wondered if he would be able to sneak a tiny sliver back, but he’d have to be extra careful because those rocks looked plenty sharp!

As he set to work, the booger-monkey came by and deliberately knocked the piece of rock he was holding out of his hands, as if goading him to get working faster!

“No need to be so pushy,” he would hiss—but the booger monkey would only leer at him, before he picked up the rock again and set to work. Hopefully he’d be able to pull the tiniest tera shard away from the pile, smuggle it back inside his mouth or something, but be extremely careful about it—

And hope to get the hell out of here.

---

• Frog where are you please come save your husband!!!
• Birddad.exe passed out at the sight of the carnage of the mutinous prisoner getting FD’d (or Saw’d) against the cell bars
• the rest of this is mostly him being a little too reflective and considering his options
• eats the tiniest piece of mocha possible (the smallest conceivable piece EVER) before getting to work
• booger monkey messes with his work by knocking the rock he was working on away from him
• Birddad.exe is trying to think of plans how to get the fuq outta here
• attempting to hide the smallest tera shard piece he can find in his mouth (should he find one!)
• no Pokémon listed since they don’t have them with ‘em

‘You run your mouth too much.’

“I know, I know,” he would chide the not-Carina as the Ribombee resumed the position; flicking away the last of the poisonous thread away from their minuscule little hands as he looked over at the poor—wait, wait a second.

He knew that the Stormbringer was much more powerful than this, but to be bested by a tiny little Ribombee?

Something was definitely up there…

He couldn’t help but mentally snicker at the image of a ‘Tornadus’ buried under a pile of purple Pollen Puffs. That was going to be one for the ages.

“I have no other choice in the matter but to face them head-on, right? So I return to where I came from, after all this. Then there is my answer.”

Hopefully, it would be enough.

See, here’s the thing.

Unlike the last time ‘he’ disappeared (hello, alternate Hammerlocke) the last thing he remembered was being incessantly spooned by his partner (for yes, despite him being the taller between them, Guillermo Marceliño wanted to be the big spoon so he’d let his partner do what he wanted) so waking up all of a sudden and realizing that he was no longer at home in Fortree…

Well…

His head was hurting, for starters. And another thing he noticed? He thought he heard someone yelling to let them out.

Wait… hold up, whoa, whoa, what the fuck?

Let them—but no, the voice didn’t sound like his partner’s so… who was he stuck with?!

As he moved to speak he thought he could feel… uh-oh! There was something else on his neck and it definitely didn’t feel like…

“Ow… the fuck?” were the first words he said, still half-out of it.

---

• okay, who is this that’s not Frog
• where tf are they
• still half-out of sorts so sorry for the short post
• no Pokémon listed since they don’t have them with ‘em

The reverberating noise was literally—making him deaf in one ear.

Earplug, earplug, get that damned thing in! he would think to himself as he popped the second one in and—shit, it was still loud!

Fact of the matter was, though, that the Noivern had finally spotted the Greninja smirking up at him—and it was time to dive.

Well, dive as fast as humanly possible while avoiding the incoming Ice Beam that was meant for them!

The chill in the wind made him shiver, though; but what made this worse was the fact that there was another echoing noise—and while he couldn’t hear it, his Noivern could; and it made them stop for a few moments mid-air.

“Not now, Fen, not now!” he hissed through grit teeth as he flattened himself on the Noivern’s back, using Agility to catch up with the retreating Greninja.

Yikes.

Those… the Sneasel-adjacent Pokémon looked absolutely terrifying to say the least; what with their Kalosian-tipped ‘French-tipped’ long nails hanging from their sides; intent on eating the noxious purple… mochi.

Not the mochi again!

“Yikes, what is up with those mochi, anyway?” he would think out loud; not realizing he’d said that. He knew that the color alone was extremely dangerous, all things considered—the sinking feeling in his stomach never did go away whenever he would look at the mochi that would suddenly appear at the scenes of the crime across the region.

“Why.”

His Braviary would only squawk in confusion at his idiot human’s distress.

“I could say the same of you,” he would hum when after what felt like an eternity; they would manage to lessen the Latias’s suffering before the two departed at nearly the speed of light.

“Normal healing moves didn’t seem to be too effective against those chains,” he’d observed once the freak weather had dissipated and shit went back to pretty much normal—tropical and humid as was typical of Hoenn’s weather.

“Although…” he would drop off, looking over at the Guzzlord with some apprehension.

“How did… how were you not eaten by them?” he would ask quietly; while the Trumbeak would caw Cian’s way in greeting while the Ribombee would alight on his shoulders; before they were joined by Tornadus himself.

“You’ve… you’ve seen the reports of when they first appeared in Mossdeep back then, right?”

---

so apparently there is a latias going monkas near Fortree and he comes across the disturbance