What neither had expected was to loose so late in the game. Maybe before they had gotten used to the Subway rules or the other's battling style, Chili and Colress might have expected to loose, but not later, not once they'd figured each other out (as veteran battlers can do), developed a strategy to work together. But, it happened.
In the eighteenth car, they suffered a crushing defeat. Things had been going well. Chili and Colress had expected that from here on, they were so experienced at the battles, had so many wins, that loosing would be improbable... after all, they were facing people who had lost once. To be honest, though, they'd only hung on so long in that battle because of Colress's steel types having useful resistances to two of the enemy Pokemon. Metagross had been the only one left standing against a Medicham, and it had looked like an even fight.
Chili should have recognized when the Medicham began powering up a Fire Punch, should have been able to warn Colress and perhaps give Metagross enough time to dodge, but he was still crumpled from seeing Darmanitan go down. When the psychic/fighting type brought a flame-engulfed fist against Metagross, it was over for the already weakened Pokemon.
Chili had always been confident in his abilities as a trainer... besides when his brothers challenged him, of course, but these... these two he'd just lost to were normal people. The loss rattled him, and Colress too, even if it didn't show so much on the young scientist's face.
The third of the Striaton brothers was distraught. This wasn't fair, this wasn't right, they were supposed to have won! He allowed Colress, who had a blank sort of look in his eyes, to lead him over to the seats on the edge of the car. The victors in the battle looked confused for a moment about where they were supposed to go -clearly, they had not expected the challengers to loose either, and were lost in the relatively new and not-well tested system in the Battle Subway- but when they consulted the computer, it was clear that Chili and Colress were meant to get off at the next stopover.
It took a few minutes for other battles to finish up. The train slowed just as suddenly as it had pulling up to the station where they had boarded. Chili had at least had some premonition about what was going to happen, and had grabbed on to one of the rings hanging from the ceiling (they sure looked like handholds to him, though he wasn't sure). Colress crashed spectacularly into the cold steel ground, which was also flecked with leftover bits of Pokemon moves and a little gross. His nose burst open with a vibrant spurt of red. It was the brightest color Chili had seen on him, and he just stared for a while. The fire-type specialist was still a bit shocked about loosing, and not quick to respond.
It was a somewhat masculine woman in green who flung open the door to the train and ended up helping Colress to his feet. A gesture of her hand implied that Chili and Colress were to disembark the train. Chili's red eyes flicked to the other man, seeing briefly if he was okay, before he stepped into the dank coolness of the station.
The losers were milling around the dark platform aimlessly, some watching those who were moving on through the windows, others purchasing sodas and lemonades from the vending machines. None seemed to know where to go next, and Chili and Colress were no different in that respect. Colress gravitated to the depot agents, who were holding lanterns in their hands. Their light seemed like an obvious place to gather. Truthfully, he found this platform intimidating... In fact, the whole underground. It felt off to him. Colress liked being in the air, despite his affinity for technology, he liked to be where he could see the outside world.
One of the depot agents, a young male with a fluffy head of silver hair, raised both his hands in the air with crossed fingers, childishly round eyes scanning over the others in green. It must have been some sign to communicate, because the ring of hatted heads dipped in nods, and the agents began gathering the loosing challengers together. Colress stuck close to the woman who had helped him up in the train, hand clamped firmly over his nose. He'd lost sight of Chili in the crowd, despite his bright red hair, but Colress wouldn't really shed a tear for that. It was just too bad, but nothing big, thought trainers did have a tendency to like each other after multi-battling together.
A shrill whistle sounded right in the scientist's ear as he thought about his battling companion, and he nearly jumped out of his skin.
It was the agent he was following, facing the crowd and staring out over them. "Everyone who wishes to return to Gear Station!" she said in a loud, commanding voice. "Please follow us."
She and the silver-haired depot agent who had signaled ready led the way, lanterns held out like stars in front of them as they made their way into the darkness. The Subway was a labyrinth of connecting tunnels as well as the ones the trains actually ran on, and that was without even mentioning the tangle of dead ends and false leads that concealed the private offices of the Subway's Masters. Without the agents, who had either memorized the place or had maps printed on the backs of their gloves, the challengers probably would have gotten lost... In the years to come, few had doubts that some would wander off and starve somewhere in the maze.
The station itself, from which the lines sprung off, was filled with people, even more than had been at the platform. They were muttering, whispering to each other, eyes darting.
Chili had a bad feeling about that. Something was wrong.
At the base of the long flight of stairs separating the real from the addicting Subway, two more men in green were standing. They were letting ever more people flow into the crowded station, but they were only letting those with the rusty tickets from the Anville line out.
Bad rumors flew around. Chili heard someone shout that there had been a murder, and they were probably all being kept as suspects. A young girl who claimed to have seen the ghostly figure of a very tall man in white out her window whimpered that there were vampires here, and bemoaned that they were all going to die. None of it sounded good.
"What's going on?" Colress hissed into the the masculine agent's ear, brows knitted. "Why can't we leave?"
The depot agent -identified by her name inscribed badge as Elyssia- almost cringed. There was a sort of confusion hidden in her eyes, but she kept a very professional manner as she replied. "I do not know, sir. Please remain calm. If there is an emergency or something wrong, the Masters of the Subway will be here shortly to deal with it."
Colress gave her a piercing stare, forehead creased in disbelief. "If? And tell me, please, what the alternatives in this situation to an emergency are."
She did not tell, only gaped slightly, wordlessly, shaking her head.
"Emmet. Is it time now?" Ingo asked, silvery-grey gaze sliding over to observe his twin. Emmet's smile was pasted in place as he stared down the tunnel. Only the clicking sounds of their heels on the stones could be heard between their words, but as they drew closer to their destination, the general buzz of human confusion grew in volume.
The grand opening of the Battle Subway had, indeed, been grand. Many had shown up to challenge the rumored sacrosanct but virtually unknown Subway Masters. The upper and lower lines had run in perfect unity that day, causing chaos for the incapable challengers. And then there were those who had actually almost managed, gathered in the station.
Emmet shook back his sleeve to check the watch on his wrist. "I think so," he snickered. "All the losers will have left by now. Now maybe we can find a serious battle!"
Ingo inclined his head. Good. In that case, they can commence.
The lights went black.
A child wailed suddenly in fright. Gear station was filled with whispering.
"What happened?"
"The lights-"
The circular station is filled with rustling as people shift and reaffirm their holds on their possessions. Someone screamed loudly. There is a mighty crash, a crackle of electricity, and suddenly the blackout was over, just as abruptly as it began.
The faint glow of backup lights, running on emergency generators, spread over the station.
Something had changed, though. The two depot agents were not guarding the entrance- rather, it was now blocked off by a large pile of stones, which seemed to have fallen from above the stairs that had been there. The agents were nowhere to be seen for most of the crowd: unfortunately, those who were close to the entrance could see a bent limb under the stones, and a lot of blood. The other one who had escaped the fall had met fate somehow else, sprawled in the middle of a very concerned and scared group of challengers.
Colress took action. He pushed through those who were frozen in fear. The scientist missed quiet murmurs and whispers that he might have heard had he stayed still- "I swear I felt someone run by..."
The second depot agent was already dead when Colress reached him, eyes glazed and staring, neck skewed unnaturally. The pale blond man knelt at his side. It was broken, and not by the rocks, he knew enough about humans to determine that. But panicking anyone in this situation would be useless, and more than that, bad. Fear spread faster than fire, and if everyone in such a crowded place got frightened, Colress couldn't imagine good results.
A strange, but not necessarily bad smell hung around the man's body, a sweet smell like candy or fruit.
"Oh my God," Chili gasped, clutching his chest, feeling his heartbeat racing under his palm. "Oh my God. This is bad."
They were trapped here -he was going to kill Cilan- how were they supposed to get out? Chili forced himself to breathe, allowing logic to make itself heard. Surely some kind of emergency workers would be here soon to clear the stones away, and then everyone would be okay, right? Not his pride after loosing, and not Cilan after Chili was through with him, but no one was going to be seriously hurt. The fire-type triplet kept reassuring himself of that.
Then, over the entire station through loudspeakers, the Subway's Masters spoke.
