Tigrerra, sat on Runo's tv-table, made a 'hrmm' noise. Runo had been in the bathroom for quite a while. She'd heard sobbing issuing through the door, as well as sounds of the less pleasant nature.
Her brawler eventually emerged, looking shaky, sick and pale. There were no words exchanged between the two, as Runo staggered across the small, yellow-painted room, and collapsed on the bed, as if she had suddenly found her legs insufficient props for the disgust and horror that had settled in her stomach like lead weights.
"M'lady...?" There had not been much conversation between the brawler and her Bakugan after the horrific fight. Both of them were unsure if they'd done the right thing. Then again, what else were they supposed to do? It wasn't as if the red-headed female wasn't intending to do them in, if they didn't get her first...
Still, it didn't feel right, to take a life: Perhaps two. Runo was fairly sure that the red-head's fall would have been broken by the corpse of her Bakugan, but there was a nagging doubt in the back of her mind, which asked "What if? What if?"
She wasn't sure if she could handle that happening again.
Spurred on with some feverish rage, Runo ran to her door, and pounded on it with all the strength her body could muster.
"Let us ouuuuuut! Ouuuuuut!" She paused a moment, perhaps surprised by the tears that ran hotly down her face, "You can't keep me in heeeeere!"
Her raving continued on in this fashion for a long while. Minutes, hours? Tigrerra couldn't tell, but she found every moment excruciating however long it was.
"M'lady. I think you should come sit down. Talk quietly about this," The floor seemed a long way off to the tiny tiger. That said, the misery of her mistress was far more distressing than any height, so she jumped, and skittered across the floor, coming to rest at Runo's leg, who lay, collapsed, against the door she had been banging on.
"We'll think of something, don't worry."
The hands came down, quick enough, and lifted Tigrerra to nestle in the crook of Runo's neck, "I'm-" She sniffed, and roughly slapped a wayward tear from her face, "I'm just scared, I guess. I'm glad you're here with me, Tigrerra,"
"I wouldn't be anywhere else, M'lady."
-—–—–—-
"Oh, Gorem! Where on earth do you think we could be?" Julie's voice sounded pretty chipper, considering her situation, "I mean, there's no windows and all the walls are painted that icky brown colour!"
"I think, Julie, we should be more concerned with things other than the colour of the walls." Ever the voice of reason, Gorem spoke calmly from Julie's front pocket, as the girl paced around the room. Personally, he wasn't sure what was wrong with brown, although he wasn't going to bring that up: Last time he had, he'd narrowly avoided being painted pink...
"Yes, but I can't let myself get so worked up about that sort of thing," Julie babbled, looking, for all the world, as if she were worked up, "Bad for the complexion, don't you know?"
Well, no. Gorem didn't know that. To be honest, he wasn't really sure if he cared. Not that Julie needed to know that: Her verbal diarrhea seemed to become prevalent when she was stressed, and in this situation? No wonder the poor girl was so stressed: Plucked from her home, just as they'd started to get to know each other, and dumped who knows where.
They hadn't been outside at all just yet, but there was something oddly familiar, but yet totally foreign about the atmosphere of the place...
-—–—–—-
"Runooooo! RUUUNNNOOOO!"
"Daniel! Daniel! Stop this!" Drago fluttered around his brawler's head, agitated and getting impatient with the lack of response he was getting, "Stop! She clearly can't hear you!"
Despite Drago's attempts to get him to stop, Dan seemed intent of banging the door until he mashed his hands into a bloody pulp. He had heard Runo. Heard her. She was here, in this strange, awful place. She had been shouting, just a little while ago. If he could hear her, surely she could here him?
"Runooooo!"
"...Dan...?" The reply was faint, as if it were quite a way away. Perhaps the doors were merely thick, and made it sound that way. Perhaps the voice was just some cruel trick of his mind. In any case, the Pyrus brawler clung onto the flimsy strand of what might be hope. After all, he had nothing else to cling to.
"Is that you, Runo?" The question was bellowed - Barely retaining the intonation of a question, "Are you there?!"
"...Of course it's Runo! Who else would it be?" The reply was rather snappish, and Dan could imagine the blue-haired girl with her hands on her hips.
Now, what to do? He could continue to shout to Runo, of course, but it was far more likely that somebody would hear, and try to shut him, or her, up.
That said, apart from the people who brought him his food, and those who escorted him to and from the arena, there didn't seem to be an awful lot of people around...
"Hang on, Runo! I'm gonna get us out!" He shouted without really thinking about it: How was he going to get out? He was no Shun, certainly, and Drago could offer no help...
He turned, and leaned with his back against the bloodied door, and examined his equally bloodied hands. Huh. Everything in this room was the same colour now. Fancy that.
"How do you plan to escape, Daniel?" Drago had perched on Dan's shoulder, since the boy was no longer pummelling the door, "We're stuck in this room, and she's probably in the same situation"
"I don't know..." Dan twisted around, rather suddenly, causing Drago to go spiralling back into the air, "I don't know!"
The frustration was rather evident on the boy's expression: No wonder! He was finally in a situation where he couldn't just power his way through. Not that it would stop him from trying - Dan charged at the door with a wild cry, slamming his shoulder into the sturdy woodwork. Unsurprisingly, nothing happened. So, Dan dusted himself off, and tried again. And again. And again.
-—–—–—-
A girl with orange hair, and blank, brown eyes walked down the hallway. She seemed as if sleepwalking - There was a metallic card clutched in her hand, and her hands were held to her chest, but the item may as well have been thin air, for all the attention she paid. She may as well have been walking in a wasteland, for all the attention she paid to her surroundings.
She stopped sharply, her fiery hair thrown forward in the abruptness of the action. She had paused outside a door, from which sounds of violence emanated. She crouched, blindly, and slid her card under the door.
After her task had been completed, Alice smiled, although it was a bland, empty expression, and vanished into a blaze of many hued sparkles.
-—–—–—-
Dan, for the second time that day, was not at all sure of what he should do: Some unknown person had bestowed a great kindness onto him, that was for sure, but he wasn't really sure what it was they'd given him.
The item appeared to be a card - No different from any ability or gate card he'd ever used, apart from in weight: The thing could have been made from lead, for all the weight it carried. In addition, whilst one side was pretty plan, the other depicted the wheel of attributes.
How did this help him? Was this just some cruel joke? He thought, for a moment, of trying to call back his mysterious beneficiary, but found his voice had no power to it. Too much shouting. Too much disappointment.
"I wish this thing could take me to Runo..." He could almost see her, when he closed his eyes - What dreadful things were they doing to her? He could hardly bear the notion that one of his friends might be suffering, without him being able to offer any help.
"Dan?"
And now he could hear her voice. Great. He was hallucinating.
"Dan!"
He opened his eyes when arms embraced him. It was... Runo?
"What're you doing in my... Room?" He had just taken the time to look around: The walls that had been painted red, were now yellow, and the door was on the opposite side of the wall to where it should have been.
"Your room?" Runo disengaged herself from Dan, and placed her hands on her hips, in a typical Runo pose, "Take a good look, Dan - You appeared in MY room!"
"Your... Appeared...?" Dan sat, suddenly feeling rather dazed. What had just happened? Had he teleported? It would certainly seem so, but that was impossible, wasn't it? Then again, so were fire dragons and giant tigers...
Speaking of fire dragons, where was Drago? If he had teleported, why hadn't he?
Before he could think on this further, however, Runo's door swung open, slamming into wall that held it. A rather angry man stood there, with purple-black hair that dangled over his eyes, and what appeared to be a kind of bullet-proof vest.
"What're you doing in here? Why aren't you in your room?" The man didn't seem particularly interested in answers, however, and dragged Dan bodily out of the room.
After her door slammed shut, Runo heard shouting and what might have been blows, before another door, presumably Dan's, slammed. So, they were practically in the same position as they had been before.
Well, except that Dan had left a small parting gift - Some strange card lay on the floor. The blue-haired girl picked it up, and tucked it into the small bag attached to it, where she kept her Bakugan, gate and ability cards. That might come in handy, sooner or later.
-—–—–—-