Chapter 22: Chimera Laboratory

The trek back to that laboratory they had seen by the trolley to get to Club Titiboo had been simple. Most of those weird hybrid animals didn't stand a chance against both Lucas and Boney's combined strength. The blond boy felt somewhat relieved that he could conserve PSI for whatever horrors awaited both of them there.

Upon arrival, they had snuck into a back room and quickly got disguises in Pigmask uniforms to obscure themselves, Lucas didn't suspect that the old switcheroo commander would work twice in a row. Plus, you never knew if Fassad could pop up out of nowhere.

His main objective was to find the Monkey, Salsa from earlier. If the commander got here, they'd probably get Needle number two. That wasn't about to happen.

Lucas sighed as he and Boney opened another door into a laboratory. Inside, they found a grown man with white hair and a lab coat. He had a short mustache in a similar manner to his white hair and thick fogged glasses. Next to him, there was another, younger boy of eerie similarity to him, with the exception of flaxen blond hair and a green suit. Lucas reasoned the blond boy must be around his age.

Both of them looked absolutely miserable, though not really tortured. They both just sort of moved around like mindless drones, mumbling some technobabble and the occasional question of what this was even for.

One Pigmask Colonel stomped up to the two and sneered over them.

"What is taking so long?!" The Colonel oinked at them. "Work faster for our gratuitous Pig King, you filthy scientists."

"And risk what? Lucas tilted his head as the blond boy snapped at the colonel. "Last time we did one of your inhumane experiments we created that monstrous Ultimate Chimera that even you idiots can't control!"

"Jeff, please." The older man mumbled in a soft tone. "You know talking back is only going to get your friend more injured."

The colonel snorted behind them. "You both are hopeless," he muttered. "Fix up our request."

"We can't get that shit done until later!" Jeff snarled back. "It takes time to sew apart living creatures and stick them back together in a healthy form! If we had more-" Lucas flinched as the colonel kicked the boy in the face. Quite frankly, he was impressed that the glasses hadn't broke off.

"Stupid brat." The colonel grumbled as he lifted Jeff up by the arm. He spotted Lucas and Boney watching and waved them over. "You there!" he said. "Help me take this boy down to the privatized area! He needs some…reminders."

Hesitating a little, Lucas sighed and gave a salute to the Colonel and walked over. He followed the two out of the laboratory and over to an elevator. The inside scanned through them and flashed the color red with a beeping alarm. Lucas flinched, did the scanner detect PSI to ensure that Paula couldn't get out without being notified? It had to have been somewhat of an answer as Jeff looked startled before turning his head towards him and Boney with a hint of suspicion.

The Colonel pounded a fist against the alarm. "Stupid fucking machince." He grumbled. "Ever since the commander took out that bratty psychic girl to verify the needle this shit's been acting up. I thought you fuckers fixed it?"

Lucas watched as Jeff's expression towards him changed to an almost hopeful look. "No, we haven't had time because you jerks keep making us pull all nighters on your stupid inhumane chimeras with no breaks!" the boy said.

"Watch it!" the Colonel snarled, Lucas watched as he hit a button that broadcasted a False Alarm. "How do you think your little friends would feel knowing that your disobedience is causing Paula pain?"

The elevator eventually dinged and it opened into the area Lucas remembered from his vision. The gray cells and dark room with flashing red lights. There were generators and other weird machines whirring constantly as wires made their way towards a barred cell, where he saw the girl in the pink dress and golden hair.

Paula somehow still managed to look worse than his vision, now he could see part of her dress had been torn. The large gash from the commander's sword had gotten bigger. Both of her legs were full of bruises. And her golden hair looked fried. So much so it was almost impressive it wasn't burnt black.

"Hold him back." The Colonel said, without turning to face Lucas. "But make sure he can see."

Once the colonel had walked up, Lucas heard Jeff's faint voice.

"Ness?" the boy asked. "Is…is that you?"

"N-No." Lucas said, meekly feeling embarrassed at the thought. "I…I'm not your friend Ness…but…I'm still here to help you."

The look of skepticism behind those glasses was evident. "If you're going to help, then do it." Jeff said, rather irritably. Lucas could tell his tone was doubtful. "My friend is about to be tortured!"

"B-But…if I attack him…then everyone will be notif-"

"Down here, there are no security measures." Jeff hissed back. "Any time Paula would try to use PSI the machine would zap her. They have no cameras or alarms, the elevator was their alarm. You have PSI, use it and prove you want to help!"

Lucas nodded his head and carefully slipped off the Pigmask Glove. He hesitated as the commander conveniently made sure to stand in a position where hitting him would hurt Paula, who looked mortified. "Come on…" he whispered, just moving.

The colonel snorted as he smacked the girl against the ground. "How do you still have hope?" He asked, walking towards a lever. "Ness abandoned you, all your friends abandoned you! There is no one else for you but King Porky! I mean look," The colonel pointed over towards Jeff. "Your own friend won't even listen to us to prevent you from being tortured!"

Lucas twitched. "PK Love ⍺!" The beams of blue and white lights erupted from his fingertips and blasted the Colonel before he could pull the lever down. The colonel squealed in pain as his body started to disappear. When the light faded, the Colonel was nothing more than just a pile of dust on the ground.

Lucas looked at the dust pile as he heard Jeff run over to Paula. Years ago, he never wanted to hurt anyone. His father, in a rare instance of being there instead out in the mountains had even told him about his attempt at Revenge against the Drago who killed Claus.

"Taking revenge shouldn't always involve killing Lucas," He blinked as the sound of his mother's voice entered his ears. "I'm not disappointed in you, you absolutely did the right thing in this situation. Just do not let it go to your head." Lucas blinked and looked around as Jeff and Paula both walked up to him. He noted that Jeff was helping Paula walk as the girl seemed to stumble.

"Thank you," Jeff said calmly. "You must be the boy that weirdo Fassad was referring to, Lucas, right?" He nodded his head and shook off the mask, revealing his face to them. He then waved his hand, using Lifeup to fix the injuries on Paula. The girl gave him a still weak smile, but he could tell she was full of light.

"We can help you with the needle as repayment." the girl said calmly. "Thank you, Lucas. We are probably forever in your debt."

"Thank you," Lucas said calmly. "Just…now, we just need a distraction to get out of here." The small smirk on Jeff's face and the flash of glasses telling him that they already had an idea.

Back to formula on the second of each month. I ended it here abruptly in favor of me deciding how I want to go about an escape scene. Also, because I haven't gotten to Salsa or the Ultimate Chimera. Which I totally did not forget about...hahaha.

I'm relieved I was able to get this chapter up on time. I've been under stress from...social problems. Sometimes I feel like I go to far and destroy myself over petty things, I can't help it sometimes though. Given certain circumstances, not even playing the new Pokemon game has taken my mind off of it. School and Social settings are...not my thing. Some people may understand where I'm coming at better than I am. Not that I fault anyone of you out there. You don't even know me.

Oh well, we have Paula and Jeff grouped together here. Initially I did have just Paula, but then I remembered that Dr. Andonuts is supposed to be in the Chimera Lab as well, so it wouldn't really make a lot of sense for Jeff to be anywhere else...except for maybe controlling that Steel Canonball Mechagorrilla at the Snowy Mountain. But like...why would I do that?

Oh well, here we are, another month, another chapter. I hope you've been enjoying my Novelization. I know there are probably other authors who'd be more qualified and experienced to write this story (I can think of three off the top of my head). But I wanted to try it after being disappointed that there weren't any that I could find.

Well, that's alright, we're all good. If you enjoyed this chapter, you can always let me know.

See you all, Next Time.