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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?

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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."

Mondo twitched a bit at the sudden contact, but he didn't pull away. He didn't turn either, trying to figure out what to say. It wasn't a matter of whether he wanted to lie to Ishimaru or not, it was a matter of finding some way to put what had happened in his head into words. He'd never been very good at that.

But would revealing that be too weak? Would Ishimaru be disgusted at how weak he was? That he couldn't hold back those horrible thoughts, that he could even joke about hurting someone after what he had done to Fujisaki? He couldn't tell him. He didn't want to lie to his friend, but he couldn't talk about this. He was weak enough as it was.

"...Sorry, that was... pretty fucking terrible of me. I should think before I open my mouth."

He laughed - it sounded a bit more genuine this time - and turned to Ishimaru. "I'm fine, alright? I just wasn't really thinking and that was a shitty thing to say. Sorry."

Ishimaru withdrew his hand as Mondo turned around; though he was admittedly rather relieved that things seemed to be balancing out again, he still didn't seem convinced - this didn't seem right. Again, it seemed too easy.

"I don't understand what happened. I believe you, of course, if you insist that everything is fine! But that was...odd, aniki, what happened?"

The guilt struck him then - as if he didn't already have enough of that to worry about - and Mondo's expression faltered. Ishimaru wasn't very good at picking up on social cues that most people got pretty easily. Mondo had learned that early on. They got along so well because Mondo was so open with what he was feeling and thinking; Ishimaru never had to guess with him. And here he was, taking advantage of that to just ignore whatever had gone through his head and pass it off as not a big deal.

"...I don't really know." He glanced downwards, focusing on one of the tiles in the floor and studying it as if it would give him all the answers he needed. "I just... I got so mad, I..."

Deep breath. He could do this. If he could admit to what happened to Fujisaki and everything that came with it, he could do this. This was easy in comparison.

"...I thought about hurting you. I'd never do it - I promise! You're my brother and I would never... But the thought crossed my mind and it..."

He fell silent again, once again turning to study the floor. "...It was fucked up, alright?"

Ishimaru just folded his arms at that, giving Mondo a bit of an odd look. "You say that as though I would let you hurt me."

There was nothing pointed or condemning about his words; it was simply said as though it was the most obvious answer in the world.

"Just because I choose to exercise willpower rather than resorting to violence doesn't mean that I can't defend myself - or do you think that all of the disputes I've settled as leader of the disciplinary committee relied only on words, and all of the students I've dealt with went peacefully to their punishments? Have a bit more faith in me than that, aniki! Just because I prefer not to fight doesn't mean that I can't!"

...There really was nothing Mondo could say to that that wouldn't be taken as some sort of insult. He kept his mouth shut on that front.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. It's been a really rough day. I'm sure everything will be much better in the morning."

He did mean that. Mondo started walking further into the building, only pausing when he realized he had absolutely no idea how to get back to his room.

"Hey, uh, aniki? I'm fucking lost, help me out, will you?" That smile was back again, but this time it was more genuine. Talking to Ishimaru was helpful, somehow.

The amount of eyerolling that managed to get, Mondo... "Am I going to have to draw some sort of map for you?" However, he was grinning again, clearly more amused than annoyed. "Come on, then, the stairs are over here."

"Hey, I'm fine when I'm outside, it's just schools and shit I keep getting lost in!"

...

"And before you say it, yeah, I've been in other schools before!"

Believe it or not, he actually did go to class! Sometimes!

Ishimaru just laughed at that. "Just keep in mind that you said it, not me!"

However, there was another issue that presented itself immediately upon entering the corridors down on the lower floors; it was the sort of oversight that Ishimaru normally would have gone into theatrics over, had he spent a bit less time here, but...

"A-Ah, aniki...? Did you ever...show me where your room was to begin with...?"

No, he was going to do that when they came back in earlier, wasn't he? But they returned at different times, and Mondo hadn't been down here since...

"...Hopefully you remember where that was..."

...Winners. Clearly. Both of them.

"Yeah, yeah, fuck off!"

But then the topic shifted to the subject of the room and... well. That did pose a new problem, didn't it?

"Nah, I didn't show you where it was. Well, it's not like this place is that big, right? I'm sure I'll find it eventually!"

...He was totally underestimating the size of this place, wasn't he?

"You're going to be wandering in circles for days."

As always, Ishimaru possessed about all the subtlety of a blunt axe; he still didn't seem annoyed, however. "I can verify it with security in the morning; for now you can either stay with me or I can see if I can get someone to let you into one of the unused ones for the night."

"Ouch," But Mondo was grinning, he knew the remark was probably true. "I think I'll stick with you. I don't wanna get lost in here again."

Of course, that meant sharing a room with Ishimaru, which wouldn't be a problem if it was only for a night. Trying to live in the same room as him would probably be horrible - he could only imagine how neat and tidy things were in Ishimaru's room and how he'd freak out if he tracked dirt in or something like that - but it wasn't like he'd need to stay there forever. One night should be fine.

"All right, then!"

It was odd, but the thought brought with it a small burst of excitement; he had heard of people spending the night with one another, as something one did while spending time with friends, but it had never been anything that he had done himself. There was always work of some sort to be done - when he was finished with his schoolwork, there were always extra credit assignments to figure for, and if he was left with free time at the end of the day, then studying on his own terms was generally how he chose to spend it - and this left little time for simply spending time with others. In fact, Naegi and Mondo were the only people he'd had anything approaching idle conversations with, at least that he could remember; while he knew that this current situation was seriously just a matter of convenience and it would likely literally consist of happening to fall asleep in the same room, he couldn't help but think of it as experiencing something that he had missed out on for quite some time.

While he didn't regret anything about how he had chosen to spend his time, and he was entirely aware of how important it was to keep focused and continue doing his best in his studies, it was often stupid, simple things like this that made him wonder how much else he had missed out on.

But that wasn't anything to worry about now; there were more things to consider, and the veritable bouncing off the walls would have to wait.

"Of course, I'm going to absolutely insist that you take the bed, and I won't hear arguments otherwise!"

...Clearly, he was going to be considering those other things in the same way he considered everything else - by bossing people around - but one can't have everything.

"Ah, hey, I can take the floor. It's no big deal." Mondo protested, but he already knew there was probably no sense in fighting with Ishimaru on this. His friend could be just as stubborn as he could, and if they kept it up, they'd both be sleeping on the floor. There wasn't any reason to fight against such hospitality, right? It might even offend Ishimaru, which wasn't something he wanted to do.

"Is your room bigger? I mean, you helped those guys take over this organization, so surely you got some kinda sweet rewards from it. Was a room upgrade one of them?" So as usual, Mondo switched the topic to avoid the awkwardness.

"It's larger than the ones usually given out to the new recruits, yes! Though I don't know exactly how much so..." He trailed off for a moment, thinking. "You did see it earlier, but we were both in something of a hurry, I think - it's nothing spectacular, aniki, I don't have too much in there."

He didn't seem too bothered by it, however, nor was he even going to bother addressing the issue of who was taking the bed - as far as he was concerned, there was no further argument, regardless of what Mondo seemed to think on the matter. "I'm not planning on staying here forever, though - it's easier for work, but I..."

He hesitated for a moment before trying to shrug it off. "I think I would prefer having somewhere of my own eventually, that's all!" It was avoiding the actual reason, but he was fairly sure no one needed to voice that directly - while it was fine for now just because he had been keeping himself busy getting acquainted with this world, staying down here with no windows was eventually going to do his head in.

Thinking back on it, Mondo could see where it was larger than the room he had woken up it. It hadn't even occurred to him while they were in Ishimaru's room. "Yeah, I noticed. At least your room isn't as cramped."

His friend's hesitation earned a side-long glance, but Ishimaru was quick to finish that statement with something that Mondo wasn't expecting. "What, you're gonna buy a house or something?" Well, probably not a house, but maybe an apartment? That wasn't the sort of thing they should be thinking about; they were still high schoolers, it wasn't like they were out on their own yet and had to worry about such things!

...Except this wasn't home, and if talking with Ishimaru was any indication, there wasn't any sort of classes here for them to take. Not that Mondo was complaining about that, but the idea of having to find their own places to live was mind-boggling.

"Huh. Well, you'll have to invite me over some time after you get the place!"

Ishimaru just laughed at that. "It'll probably be an apartment, because I don't know what I would do with all the space otherwise - but brother, you'll be the first to see it!"

For now, however, the room at the base would have to do; the door was easily unlocked, the lights flicked on immediately, and Ishimaru was quick to busy himself with something in the closet - he'd shown up in very early spring, after all, when the edge from the cold still hadn't quite come off, and while this place was warmer than some others, some of the nights had been less than pleasant. As a result, he had blankets in here somewhere, surely, under what was quite possibly more sets of clothing than he'd had reason to own in his entire life prior to this.

...yeah, while the room may have been organized to the point of sterility, the closet most definitely was not.

"What about you, aniki? You wanted to see the region, right?"

Mondo really couldn't help but look over at the closet when Ishimaru opened it. He was curious about his friend's actions, but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't interested in seeing what was in that closet. He expected it to be just as fastidiously clean as the rest of the room.

He was wrong. He was really wrong.

Thankfully, Mondo knew when to keep his mouth shut, and he promptly busied himself with dumping the two Pokéballs and the 'Gear on the nightstand. That would at least give him something to do that wasn't "stare awkwardly at Ishimaru's closet."

"Yeah, I definitely want to travel. Get out, see the world, you know? I can't really imagine myself settling down anywhere or anything like that, but it'd be nice to have some place to return to."

Preferably not this base though; the lack of windows was really starting to bother him.

Ishimaru remained gleefully oblivious to the fact that apparently Mondo had found himself completely unprepared for his closet; his words were brightened by a vaguely triumphant tone upon finally locating the blankets. Somehow.

"I understand, yes. I've been to many places in this region, though I haven't seen all of them myself - but I'll have to point you toward some of the cities I think you'll like!"

The blankets could go on the floor for now, as that was where they were going to end up anyway; he set about setting his own 'Gear, trainer case and Pokéballs on the desk against the wall. "It really is good to have you here, aniki; I think you'll like it!"

LOCKED TO ardent

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