pokebox | LOCKED TO ardent

LOCKED TO ardent

The first thing he noticed was the off-white ceiling and plain walls. It didn't occur to him that there was anything weird about that for a minute or so, instead he sat up, glancing around at the unfamiliar room. The bed he was lying in wasn't particularly hard or soft - not as comfy as the one at Hope's Peak, but it wasn't uncomfortable either - and there was a desk beside the bed with a set of clothes, a note, and two red-and-white balls. Mondo reached for one of the balls without thinking, only stopping himself when his memories of the previous days came flooding back like a tidal wave.

Fujisaki. How could he forget, even for a moment? Fujisaki had come to him, seeking help, expressing a desire to become stronger, and what had he done? He'd blacked out. No, that wasn't right - he'd blacked out and killed the kid. Mondo's fists clenched and he drew his hand back. That's right, then there had been a trial, just like the first time someone was found murdered in Hope's Peak Academy. Monobear had called them all down there and they had gone over the evidence. Well, if by "they" he meant Naegi, Kirigiri, and that jackass Togami. First they had outed Fukawa as Genocider Syo, then they'd blamed Togami for altering the crime scene, and then...

...And then the truth had come out. If he hadn't been so careless with what he was saying, Fujisaki's secret would have been safe and he wouldn't have hurt Ishimaru, his aniki. Of course he had noticed the way Ishimaru reacted - the screaming, the denial, the tears, the desperation - and Ishimaru had voted for someone else. Even when he had acknowledged his defeat, Ishimaru hadn't. Ishimaru had believed in him until the very end - but he shouldn't have. He had betrayed not only Fujisaki's trust, but Ishimaru's as well.

It was a good thing he hadn't gotten away with murder though. Mondo doubted he could have lived with himself if he had. Even the execution wasn't that bad - from what little he remembered of it. It could have been worse; he could have been chained to a signpost and bludgeoned to death by millions of baseballs. He still had nightmares about Leon's death. He didn't even know Leon all that well. No, Mondo's death had been relatively quick and he'd gotten to ride a motorcycle one last time. There was something freeing about that, something he doubted he could ever really put into words. His last action had been his favorite. Maybe that was suiting.

So why was he here? Why was he waking up? He was dead, he was sure of that. He was equally sure that this wasn't Hope's Peak. There weren't any windows in the room, which meant that he could be underground, but he doubted Monobear would have let him live after the murder. He hadn't gotten away with it; he hadn't "graduated." So where was he?

Mondo finally got up, snatching the note off the top of the clothes folded on the desk. There was a large, red "R" on the shirt front, but Mondo ignored that for the time being to scan the note. Apparently he was now working for an organization known as "Team Rocket." That title meant nothing to him and he set the note aside, picking up the clothes next. It was a very standard uniform that looked like it would be way too tight-fitting for his taste and Mondo set that aside as well. Finally, he picked up the red-and-white balls, turning them in his hands curiously. He wasn't a Super High-School Level Baseball Player, but he might be able to use them as weapons if he needed to. He tucked those in his pocket and turned to the door. He expected it to be locked. It wasn't.

The hallway was just as nondescript as the room, though the ceilings were a bit low for his liking. Mondo picked a direction at random and started down the hallway, absently wondering if he could find some way back outside. It felt like it had been a long time since he had seen the sun.

He was stopped on his way by a shorter, scrawny man wearing that uniform (yeah, it definitely looked like it would have been too tight on him). The man frowned at him and pointed one gloved finger down the opposite hallway. "You should be heading to your first day of training! Why aren't you in uniform?"

"Fuck off," Mondo replied, shoving the smaller man out of his way. The guy definitely looked older, so he could assume that this wasn't the school. No one else was in the school after all, right? Just the fifteen of them - well, eleven of them now (did he even count anymore?) - and the person controlling Monobear. Mondo brushed that thought aside; this wasn't the school. That was what he would focus on.

He didn't find his way out. His sense of direction had always been good, but that was on the roads, in the open air. He had always gotten turned around in Hope's Peak as well, but never like this. He couldn't believe he'd managed to wander in a circle, finding himself back in front of the room he'd woken up in. Maybe this was some kind of trick; he couldn't move on until he'd gone to his first day of "training" or whatever.

The man in the Rocket uniform came walking down that hallway at just that moment. "Gotten yourself lost, huh?" He sneered. "Just follow this hallway and hook a left. The training facility's there. You'll meet the other new recruits and get started on your two weeks of training."

Two weeks? Like hell he was going to hang around for that long. Mondo rolled his eyes and followed the man's directions, ignoring the shout for him to get back and change his clothes.

The training facility was more decorated than the hallways or the room, and well-lit at that. There were several other young men (wearing that hideous uniform), all gathered in the center of the room, talking quietly. It looked like the instructor hadn't shown up yet. Mondo was tempted to leave, but this might be his best chance to get information on this place. He frowned for a moment, before walking up to join the others. He stood at least a head taller than them, which made him stick out even worse than the clothes he was wearing. Not that he cared.

"What's this "training" gonna consist of anyway?"

None of the other men seemed to know, and Mondo began to wonder just how badly things were going to go. It wasn't like it could be any worse than Enoshima being stabbed through by spears in the gym, right?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ishimaru's eyes widened. "I...I can't let you do that!"

There were many, many reasons why telling Mondo anything related to this was a bad idea; obviously there was the issue of Colonel Archer possibly revoking any promises he'd made regarding letting him anywhere near that machine, but there was also the more immediate threat at hand - Colonel Archer raised several powerful Psychic Pokémon of his own, and even if he didn't retaliate against Mondo directly, he would doubtless send Kimblee to do it. While Ishimaru didn't have much experience in dealing with Kimblee himself, he had seen enough to know that the man was dangerous - no, there was no way that he could say anything that would send Mondo toward either of them.

"Listen to me, aniki, I...I know that you're upset, but this...it was my decision! I can't have you going after anyone else for what I've chosen to do!"

It was a fragile rebuttal and he knew it, but it was the best he had for the time being.

"Don't be fucking stupid. Do I look like I'm gonna buy that shit?" Mondo demanded, jabbing a finger in Ishimaru's direction. "You're not like that. You're not ruthless or cut-throat enough to do shit like this without prompting. You can't look at me and tell me you genuinely don't feel bad about this shit, can you? You're doing it because you feel like you have to in order to save everyone, right?"

He got to his feet, though made no move to approach Ishimaru. "So don't lie to me. Who the fuck was it that put this fucking idea in your head in the first place?"

Even though Mondo wasn't approaching him, Ishimaru took a step back, shifting back into a slightly more defensive position, though he still seemed unwilling to flat-out back down. "I...I don't feel bad about it because I have to save everyone! Whatever I have to do is nothing compared to what Monobear is making us do to each other, don't you understand that?!"

He twitched a bit, sharply, his hands forming fists abruptly. "You aren't getting a name from me, aniki - I'm sorry but that's the way it has to be!"

"There are some things you don't fucking need to compare! The shit we went through back home can't touch us here! Why the fuck would you turn your back on all the rules and shit that you care about now? I get that you felt you didn't have a choice before, but I'm here now! Leave that shit to me. There's no need for you to dirty your hands with it, you got that!?"

Mondo noticed Ishimaru shift and for a brief moment he seriously considered fighting his aniki. Ishimaru didn't look like the sort who ever got into fights (though that did raise the question of what he did do; there was no way for him to be that ripped if he didn't do any sort of physical activities, though Mondo couldn't see Ishimaru doing any sort of team sport or contact sport either) and it would probably be way too easy to take him. If he hit him, would Ishimaru break down crying immediately or would he actually attempt to fight back? All of this flashed through Mondo's mind in a split-second, and all of it made him feel incredibly guilty.

"...Alright, so you're trying to protect this guy. Fine. Just promise me you won't do shit like this anymore. It... it's not you, alright?"

He knew just how stupid that sounded. Mondo folded his arms and glanced away, pretending he wasn't suddenly going red.

"I just don't like seeing you do shit like this. You're a good guy, aniki. You're not like me or the Crazy Diamonds. You follow all the rules to the point where it's fucking infuriating, but that's who you are. You're always gonna be like that, just like I'm always gonna be a rule-breaker. This sort of thing is what I should be doing, not you. So just... leave it to me, alright?"

The initial yelling got another sharp flinch out of him, and he was fully prepared to shout back, to demand to know what it was about this that Mondo wasn't understanding - and for the second time that day, it was fortunate that Ishimaru wasn't an inherently cruel person, as the first thought to flicker through his mind was the idea that Mondo didn't have to deal with anything from Monobear anymore. He was dead, he had killed and failed to get away with it, he had no right to say anything about the position that his classmates were in or what lines should and shouldn't be crossed -

The thoughts were brief but startling in their cruelty; the guilt they brought with them was overwhelming, and that was what prompted the tears.

He had no idea what it looked like, other than 'not what he was trying to convey at all' - it probably seemed incredibly random, or as though the shouting alone had made him cry, but that wasn't exactly it; it wasn't anything he was going to be able to articulate, however, and Mondo eventually moved on from it, his tone suddenly softer and...

...oh. Was...Mondo blushing? Why...?

"...You may be a rule-breaker, brother, but you aren't..." He shook his head a bit, though he didn't bother to do anything about the fact that he was quite openly crying again. "You're still a good guy, do you understand?!"

Well, he certainly didn't mean to make Ishimaru cry. What even caused that reaction? Had Ishimaru really not thought about it from his point of view? Had he just been oblivious to how horrible this whole mind-altering thing really was? Honestly, Mondo wouldn't be surprised at any of those reasons.

Then suddenly Ishimaru was back to yelling and Mondo stared at him, speechless for a moment.

"Ah, hey, c'mon, knock it off." He really didn't deserve such words of praise from anyone, especially not someone he had let down so badly. Mondo was positively sure even his ears were bright red by now. "I mean, I'm not the fucking devil or anything like that, but I'm not really a good guy, aniki. I've never really been a good guy, you know? No sense fooling yourself, alright?"

He forced a smile and an awkward laugh though, trying to write it off as okay. There was no need to lie to Ishimaru - especially not after everything he had told him - but he really wasn't keen on delving more into his issues today, thanks.

"Man, I should start carrying tissues on me." That was said teasingly, however, and he stepped forward to ruffle Ishimaru's hair again. "I appreciate it, alright?"

Ishimaru didn't try to pull away from the hair ruffling, though he did duck a bit - not really avoiding it, but at least putting forth the effort to pretend that wasn't incredibly welcome. He had no idea what had shifted, exactly, and why everything was suddenly okay - because everything was suddenly okay, wasn't it? - and for a brief moment he found himself wondering if he was missing something vital. It wouldn't be the first time he had failed to notice or comprehend something...but no, surely everything was fine? Mondo wouldn't be acting so friendly toward him again if it weren't, right?

"I'm not fooling myself - you've been...very kind to me, even if you are still insisting on breaking every rule presented to you. You're better than you think."

He paused for a moment, swiping at his eyes; he was smirking a bit when he stopped, however. "Or am I risking damaging your reputation by saying that? Don't worry, aniki, it's not something I'll spread around!"

"You got that fucking right, I've got to build up a reputation here! Can't have you ruining it from the get-go!" But that only received more hair-ruffling, clearly Mondo didn't mean it.

It was strange how easily things had shifted once he realized that Ishimaru wasn't entirely to blame for what he'd seen. For some reason Ishimaru wanted to protect his friend (probably some loser kid Mondo could snap in half if he felt like it), so for now he wouldn't try to get that information out of Ishimaru. If he just so happened to find the bastard later then hey, lucky him.

"Aniki, will you promise me something?" Not everyone took promises as seriously as Mondo did, but he figured Ishimaru knew exactly how important promises were to him. "Promise me you'll quit it with this... mind-altering and controlling shit as soon as you can. If I'm gonna have to rely on these... 'mon-things then it'll take awhile for me to get them into shape, but once I've done that, you won't need to get involved with this shit anymore. I'll take care of it. I... really don't feel right altering peoples' minds or anything, but I can steal. I've always been pretty good at that. So promise me you'll leave that shit to me."

The second round of tousling got a bit of an indignant noise out of him, but again Ishimaru didn't pull away; it felt...nice, for some reason, and the conversation was comfortable again, and for a moment everything was good.

It still wasn't bad, per se, when Mondo started talking to him again, but it was awkward; he took a deep breath before saying anything, trying to settle himself - he suspected Mondo wouldn't be too pleased with what he had to say on the subject.

"I can't...risk my position at this point. If I'm given orders, they're going to be followed; it's how things need to be." His words were tense, his posture quickly becoming equally so. "Besides, when you said that you're here now - you meant that I'm not alone here anymore. Right? The same goes for you, then, doesn't it? You shouldn't worry about me getting my hands dirty; I've been doing this for a while, and I...it's worth it, brother, I wouldn't do it if I didn't believe it to be worth it."

He closed his eyes for a moment before trying to re-establish eye contact. "Because I know how much it means to you, I can't promise you anything."

"I..." But Mondo couldn't finish that thought. He was at a loss for words. He had always operated under the assumption that he knew Ishimaru better than the rest of the students (never mind that it hadn't been very long since they started actually enjoying one another's company), but it never really occurred to him that it went both ways.

Ishimaru couldn't promise him because he was afraid he would have to break that promise. That meant more to him than he ever would have imagined.

"Y-yeah, I... guess that's to be expected then," He floundered for words, one again feeling his face burn with embarrassment. "I still don't like it. It feels fucking wrong to me. But... I guess if you have to do it in order to get the others here..."

Was that really okay? And on the tail of that thought, was he really someone who should be asked about it, after everything he had done?

No, he wasn't. His opinion didn't matter. If Ishimaru thought it would be for the best, then he would trust his judgement.

"Okay." Mondo nodded, suddenly looking much more determined than he had been moments ago. "If this is the way to bring them all here, then I'll do what I can to help. I don't like the idea of owning something that could alter my mind, so I'll leave that to you, but I'll do whatever else I can to help."

Ishimaru's relief was both immediate and obvious; he could feel himself sigh slightly as Mondo's feelings on the matter seemed to shift from reluctant acceptance to determination to help him. He wasn't sure what he would have done if Mondo had reacted otherwise; it wasn't something he wanted to think about.

"...thank you, aniki. And you don't have to worry about the psychics - they won't harm you if you own them and train them well! But if it bothers you so much, we can use mine only."

"Sounds about right; you get the brains, I get the brawn. That should work out nicely!"

Hopefully there are creatures here who aren't as pathetic-looking as the pantslizard... And hopefully ones who can actually put up a fight.

"So is this the only thing you've been doing? Besides training new recruits-- say, how did you get that job anyway? Aren't there older members in this group?" Though imagining an entire mafia-like organization run by teenagers was kind of hilarious...

"Ah, didn't I tell you? I answer to the people in charge of the organization. I've known them for quite some time, since before they held that rank! They trust me to oversee the new recruits and report on their progress!"

He paused briefly, thinking. "There are several other older members, yes. Most of them, in fact, seem to be adults! But those in charge now have promoted only the ones that they trust most to positions like mine - it's an honor to have been chosen above the others!"

Wait, hang on... "You're on really good terms with the people running this fucking thing?" And wait, didn't that also mean... "These guys took over this organization? Holy shit."

Holy shit indeed. Mondo had no idea how powerful the previous boss(es?) was (were?), but it would probably take a lot of manpower to take over the organization entirely. Or at the very least, a lot of Pokémon power. Or something.

"Fuck, that's pretty impressive. So did you help them take over?" Clearly this is the most important thing here.

Ishimaru's gaze darted back toward the floor for a moment, another of those soft, frustrated noises leaving his throat before he was really aware of it; he realized after a moment that he wasn't sure what Mondo would think of all this. He hadn't expected such an averse reaction to his work; he had no way to know what would cause another one.

He looked back toward his friend after a moment, his gaze hard. "...I did, yes. They asked whether they could count on my support, and I gave it to them."

"What did you do? How did you even manage to pull it off? Wasn't security pretty fucking tight? I mean, this is like the mafia or something, right? Fuck, that must have been really difficult. What did you do? Use your uh... fox-thing?"

Mondo was interested rather than upset, though it was a bit difficult to judge based on what little information he had on Ishimaru's part in this takeover.

"Most of the fighting was between them and the previous leaders. I haven't been in this world long enough; I'm not powerful enough to be useful to them in an actual battle like that. I can't say for sure what they did; I was mostly assisting them by keeping the lower levels occupied so they wouldn't be interrupted."

He shifted a bit, awkwardly. "One of them...he uses the same tactics I do. He has many Psychic Pokémon; creatures that are capable of far more than Sayuri. I'm not on his level when it comes to such things; I couldn't begin to imagine battling him. There's another one that he works closely with - I understand that he was proven one of the most skilled battlers in the region, by way of a tournament held here a while back. Underestimating them in any way would be a mistake."

"Oh, yeah, that makes sense. I'm guessing it takes a lot of time to train these things, huh? Still sounds a little ridiculous, but if that's what I've gotta do to help our classmates..."

Wait. Something Ishimaru said caused Mondo to pause and study him carefully. "...That other guy, the one who uses the same tactics as you..." He started carefully, head tipped slightly to one side, "you didn't want to give me a name because I'd go after him. And if he's even more powerful than you and Sayuri then..."

The pieces fell into place rather quickly with that explanation. Mondo didn't look upset though, just mildly surprised. "Well, fuck." That did sum it up pretty well, didn't it? If he had gone after a guy who could blast his brains out without even lifting a finger, well that certainly wouldn't have ended well.

"...You could have just told me, you know..."

Well, even if Ishimaru didn't confirm it directly, his expression was more than enough to imply that Mondo's conclusion was, in fact, a correct one; he twitched a little, clearly at least trying to find a way to be diplomatic.

"N-Not to doubt you, aniki, but you were having a moment where listening to reason wasn't very likely..."

Hey, look at that! Maybe he picked up some Super High School Level Detective skills from Naegi or Kirigiri ~~and not Togami because Togami sucks~~!

"Aww, c'mon, do you really think I would--"

But that statement died in his throat and Mondo quickly looked away, coughing to cover the awkwardness. It didn't work and he's well aware of that, but how was he supposed to finish that statement? He would never hurt Ishimaru, but he couldn't say the same for anyone else. Hell, he couldn't even say that for sure, since he could black out and who the hell knew what would happen then?

"Y-yeah, well, sorry about that."

He adjusted the sleeves on his coat to give him something to do and look at, but he was not covering it very well. He needed some kind of distraction, anything that would get Ishimaru's mind off of this horribly awkward slip of the tongue.

"So you uh... you have other Po-kay-mon, right? What are they?"

...He was definitely the most subtle.

The...most...subtle...

Um.

"...Are you all right?"

Socially awkward, Mondo. Not stupid.

"Yeah, of course I am! What, you think I'm not!?"

Getting angry wasn't going to help, he knew that. How the hell else was he supposed to take this though? Ishimaru could see just how weak he was, couldn't he? He was weak enough to attempt to joke about hurting someone, after he had killed Fujisaki. He had forgotten about that for just a split-second, and that had been all the time it took for him to fuck it up, as usual. Weak, weak, weak, weak, weak...

"Perfectly fucking fine! Don't be fucking stupid!"

The forcibly cheery tone and the shouting and the infuriated expression probably wouldn't have added up right to even the most adept at social cues. Good luck, Ishimaru.

Yikes.

"There's no reason to be so angry about it, brother, it was simply a question...!"

Ishimaru had certainly seen Mondo angry before; he had instigated it a fair amount himself - sometimes unintentionally, sometimes because he had been unable to resist pushing buttons once he had found a few to press down on. This was different, however; for some reason it was completely jarring to see this sort of thing leveled directly at him.

"I'm not fucking angry! I'm perfectly fucking calm!"

...Yeah, okay, he could hear where that might not be the greatest lie he had ever told. Whoops. It would be best to calm down, he knew that, but he couldn't figure out how to calm down. He just wanted to--

hit someone in the head with a barbell? is that a good idea? ishimaru's stronger, but he wouldn't need a weapon. he could probably strangle him without any difficulties--

Mondo turned away from Ishimaru, pressing his head into his hands for a moment. Fuck. Fuck. He had always known that he'd had difficulties controlling his anger, but it had never been this bad, had it? No. It couldn't have been this bad. What the hell had gotten into him?

"...I'm gonna head to my room for the night."

He didn't move though, instead just standing there, massaging at his temples as if that would help drive those fucking disgusting thoughts away.

For a moment, Ishimaru didn't move either; he couldn't say he knew what was going on, exactly, but it was very, very obvious that something had shifted in Mondo's mind and it wasn't in a good way.

He hesitated for a moment before reaching out, laying one of his his hands lightly on Mondo's shoulder. He didn't try to make him turn around, nor did he attempt to get around him to try to force him to look; it was just establishing contact, awkward though it may have been.

"You don't have to lie to me."

LOCKED TO ardent

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