Interlude 3: Conversation
Published: 30/03/24
Red had, over the months he'd been here, come to think of the prison he was now in as not exactly a home, but at least a more pleasant place to exist than the Sudoku chamber he'd been trapped in prior. The food was edible, for a start, and he had access to indoor plumbing rather than a bucket that he then needed to feed to his Muk. He'd even gotten used to his roommate, despite his roommate being a series of organs attached to the wall in alphabetical order. Simon, apparently. He'd been a scientist before whoever it was that had them secured like this did... That... to him.
There was one major problem for all four of the people trapped here. If his captors, whoever they were - and Tex was avoidant on that topic - learnt that they were mounting an escape, or anything else they felt was excessively disorderly conduct... Well... That's what happened to Simon. And Tex, having been caught by them, was unable to resist answering any questions they asked truthfully. Which, even if it weren't for the cameras, meant that escape attempts were inevitable to be found out about despite the complete lack of presence of whoever was keeping the four here.
The one place Red had found there to be no cameras was the bathrooms. Tex had at one point said that his captors didn't like 'disorder' and considered base biological functions as fairly dysfunctional. Which at least meant there was somewhere they could go for some privacy away from prying eyes, but it was pretty apparent that their captors would take two people going to the bathroom at the same time for a chat to be somewhat suspicious unless they had a watertight explanation for it.
Red had formulated the beginnings of a plan and was ready to take a risk. He approached Tex in the courtyard during breakfast, more shyly than he usually moved. "Hi, err, I could use talking to you?"
Tex looked up from his Life cereal. "Go ahead."
Red squirmed a bit, an exaggerated display, making pointed looks towards Mike, on the other side of the courtyard, the older pirate was parent age compared to the boy, while Tex - if circumstances were different - might just be young enough to be Red's older brother with a major age gap. "It's... Kinda private? From what you've told me about who's in charge here I don't think they'd want to know either, I certainly don't want to talk about it in front of a camera."
Tex stared at Red. "...Please tell me you aren't asking me to..."
Red blushed and shuffled his foot on the ground. He was playing it up, but some of the emotion was genuine due to the question Tex failed to finish asking.
"...Fine. We can have a quick chat about... That... In the bathroom, but talk only. Got it?"
Red nodded, as shyly as he could muster.
As Red followed, he locked the door behind him, and let his entire body language change from the exaggerated performance of embarrassment he had previously to confidence. "Great. Now that we have some alone time, you want free of their mind control, or are you happy being our prison's resident grass?"
Tex's eyes widened. "Of course, I want free of this. Even if they weren't currently using me as they are, considering how they captured me I'd want free of this. But thinking about escaping their clutches is pure fantasy, and you're taking a huge risk asking me about that."
"Maybe for you it is. I used to be part of an... Organization... that could steal a caught Pokémon with just a toss of a ball. And, well... You're their caught Pokémon right now, right? I still have one of those balls from when I escaped that organization. I can free you from them. And after that... I don't know what comes next, but this is a first step of a plan at least. Better than sitting around here for the rest of our lives, anyway."
"...You were with Team Rocket?!" Tex spluttered out. He put the thought behind him. "...Will they work on humans? I wasn't exactly caught inside a PokéBall, you know."
Red shrugged. "Don't see why they wouldn't, Pokéballs work on humans, after all. A kid accidentally caught me in one for a few minutes while I was still with Rocket. Obsessed with shorts, even by Youngster standards."
Tex stared at Red. "...Sure. May as well give it a shot. Keep me caught, though, in case it offers any protection against whatever tech they've got."
Red nodded. "Sure thing. Snag ball, go." And tossed a small orb at Tex, engulfing him in red light as it hit him before absorbing it into itself, before falling onto the floor. Red looked down at the ball at his feet, picked it up, and simply said "Tex, go."
"OK, cool." Tex paused... "I guess I should continue to pretend to be under their control?"
Red nodded an affirmative.
"What should I say if they ask what you wanted to talk about in here?"
Red shrugged. "Tell them the truth, I guess. That I had questions about my balls. It lines up with the performance I did before coming in here, and if what you say about them is accurate, I doubt they'll ask for more details." Red turned, unlocked the bathroom, and, adopting the same exaggeratedly embarrassed performance he'd been using before coming in, left.