Main Hall - Cotton Down Lounge

[Panoramic_Vacuum]

Odette was the first one to step out, followed by Odile and Enora. She poked her head out into the lounge, and took a cautious look around before her gaze landed on Steven. When their eyes met, all she could really do was frown for him. She shook her head once, before motioning the others behind her that the coast was clear, and they fanned out the door and back toward the sitting area behind that bookshelf.

When she was close enough to talk in a whisper, she eyed Steven again, then Kimiko.

“We are so lucky we got in there,” she said simply, before flashing her phone screen, where she’d pulled up the picture of the bottle.

As relieved as Steven was to see Odette, trailed by her partners and Wes and Mitch, he could have done without her rebuke. This whole thing was a mess from start to finish, from the break-in's inception, to his lying to Xavian, to the possibility of their way home from this mess also being the reason they were disappearing in the first place. His concern was justified. He kept his voice down, but was in no mood to back down any further than that.


"What happened in there?" he demanded. "Kimiko said someone else was in there with you--?"

He froze when Odette brought up her phone. His eyes went wide, train of thought entirely derailed by what was on the screen. Gods, they'd found it, just like Kimiko had said--


"Is that... the prison bottle?"

 

[Seren]

The text Odette sent did little to ease Kimiko's worries, despite the confirmation that they weren't under attack or anything.

Steven glanced at his watch. "It hasn't been that long," he said, mirroring Kimiko's gaze toward the hallway door, "but should we head back there? To make sure everything's okay?"

“We are so lucky we got in there,” she said simply, before flashing her phone screen, where she’d pulled up the picture of the bottle.

"No, I think they're-" she started to reply to Steven, but cut herself off when she heard a door opening and the squad emerged from the other room. "Oh thank gods you're all okay," she said with a relieved sigh as she watched Wes, Odette, Mitch, and their partners heading towards them.

Steven asked the question she had been about to, so instead, Kimiko took a look at the photo Odette was showing them on her phone. Shocked though she was, she couldn't help but feeling a little smug that Orzo did in fact have a bottle in there. "You didn't take it with you?" she asked. "I thought we were gonna collect it so we could use it against Orzo?" She turned her gaze curiously to Mitch. Had he not told the others their plan? Xavian was probably still down there in the Dragon's Maw; plenty of time for someone to swing back in and swipe the bottle. She couldn't shake the feeling that it was going to be essential somehow when they did eventually confront Orzo, now that they knew for sure he was their target.

 

[Negrek]

Odette and Wes' investigation had clearly gone much better than Nate's own, given how they'd blown out of the room they'd been searching like they were expecting Xavian to show up any minute. Or, hell, maybe they hadn't found anything except a sign that Xavian's party was going to head home and bust their asses. Neither of them looked super happy about the situation, and other than a terse comment that they were going to Odette's dorm, Nate hadn't gotten any clue about what they'd found. They'd need to talk later, apparently. Nate fell into step behind the others, Mightyena trotting wearily at his side, and tried not to chew on what might have gone down too much.

At least there wasn't any sign of Xavian outside, just the girl with the espeon, right where they'd left her--and it looked like she'd managed to rescue Steven (Steven fucking Stone, Nate still couldn't believe it), too. Whatever Odette whispered to those two, Nate didn't catch, and the phone picture hadn't been meant for him, but the others' reactions were conclusive enough. Certainly he couldn't miss the espeon girl's meaningful look in his direction. "Whoah, yeah, you found the bottle in there?" he asked Odette. "Did you have to bail before you could grab it? I know we don't want nobody to know we've been in here, but that sounds like the one thing that might be able to stop that Golden King fucker."

And just what the hell had Steven meant about some other person being in there? That would explain the hurry, at least...

 

[HelloYellow17]

"What happened in there?" he demanded. "Kimiko said someone else was in there with you--?"

Well, damn, Wes wasn’t exactly prepared to be grilled with questions the second he stepped back into the lobby. Steven looked positively spooked—what had happened? How did he already know…?

He felt Hoopa stir from where he was tucked under Wes’ coat, close to his side. He resisted the urge to fidget and folded his arms instead, reaching discreetly under the coat to give the ghost a reassuring pat. It was weird, touching a ghost; soft, but cool, as if mist had a corporeal form.

It wasn’t that he didn’t trust those in the lobby at the moment, but he figured such a public place wasn’t the best spot to reveal Hoopa. He cleared his throat, glanced around, and said in a low tone, “We…did find someone. A friend. But I don’t think we should talk about it here.”

"Oh thank gods you're all okay," she said with a relieved sigh as she watched Wes, Odette, Mitch, and their partners heading towards them.

Wes blinked, taken aback at Kimiko’s obvious relief. He hadn’t expected her to be so worried, considering how little they still knew about each other, but he couldn’t deny the tiny flicker of warmth he felt at her greeting. It was…nice. Nice that someone on this island full of lunatics showed that they cared. He offered her a smile, albeit a shaky one. “Yeah, we’re fine.”

…For now, anyway.

 

[Sinderella]

"You didn't take it with you?" she asked. "I thought we were gonna collect it so we could use it against Orzo?"

"Whoah, yeah, you found the bottle in there?" he asked Odette. "Did you have to bail before you could grab it? I know we don't want nobody to know we've been in here, but that sounds like the one thing that might be able to stop that Golden King fucker."

Odette brought her phone back to her chest and sighed to herself. "Well...Wes found the box it was locked in, and we were trying to make it look like nobody was in there, so we felt that, for the moment, it was safer to--"


As Odette spoke, a smug grin stretched over Odile's lips as she reached into the pocket of her track jacket and slowly withdrew the spooky pink bottle--with an almost comedic slowness to her movement.

"̷T̵a̶k̷e̶ ̵i̶t̸.̵"̷


Odette's abruptly stopped talking, and her brow furrowed. She slowly turned to glare at the bottle in Odile's hands, before cutting her eyes up to the demon in question.

"You actually fucking took it?"


"̵W̵a̴s̶ ̶I̸ ̶n̵o̵t̷ ̶s̶u̶p̶p̴o̶s̵e̶d̷ ̶t̴o̷?̷"̶


Odette was suddenly at a loss for words. "Yes. I mean, no, but we were trying to--"


"̸'̴C̵a̴u̷s̵e̴ ̷I̶ ̴m̴e̶a̶n̷.̴.̷.̴t̸h̸e̶ ̷T̵H̵I̴N̵G̶ ̴w̷e̷ ̷f̵o̷u̸n̶d̴ ̶w̶a̶s̸ ̶T̴H̶E̵R̶E̴ ̵f̵o̸r̷ ̴a̶ ̷l̶o̷n̸g̷ ̷t̷i̴m̷e̴,̸ ̶s̵o̵ ̸I̴ ̴T̴H̷I̷N̶K̶ ̵i̸t̶'̸s̶ ̷s̴a̶f̵e̷ ̴t̵o̶ ̵a̷s̶s̸u̴m̸e̷ ̵t̷h̴a̵t̴ ̷W̵h̸o̶r̷e̴-̴z̴o̷ ̵w̸o̴n̴'̶t̵ ̷m̷i̷s̶s̴-̸-̵"̶


Enora abruptly wrapped her ribbons around Odile's mouth. "Seriously?" she griped. "Lower your voice."


Odette inhaled sharply, shaking her head. She then snatched the bottle out of Odile's hand, and proceeded to carefully shove it into her backpack, being sure to bury it under her other things as best as she could, just in case. "Yeah. Yeah. We took it. We have it. Don't worry about it."

“We…did find someone. A friend. But I don’t think we should talk about it here.”

She nodded in agreement to Wes's suggestion as she re-shouldered her bag. "Agreed. We need to get back to my dorm, and we'll...give you the full rundown once we're there."

 

[Dragonfree]

May had hurried to the lounge as soon as she got the text. She knew it, she knew it, and even then she couldn't feel satisfied because it just meant there was no sure way to get home.

When she stepped in they were talking about how they'd left the Prison Bottle behind, and she wanted to scream, but apparently Odette's doppelganger Pokémon had grabbed it anyway. "Okay, good, that's good," she said, rubbing her forehead. "Are we heading to the dorm or not?"

Spirit had stopped, looking intently at Wes, her eyes narrowed. "I sense something."

 

[Panoramic_Vacuum]

He cleared his throat, glanced around, and said in a low tone, “We…did find someone. A friend. But I don’t think we should talk about it here.”

She nodded in agreement to Wes's suggestion as she re-shouldered her bag. "Agreed. We need to get back to my dorm, and we'll...give you the full rundown once we're there."

Steven blinked. "You found someone? You found a 'friend' in Xavian's room? What does that even mean?"

Mitch at least looked about as baffled as he felt, so, it seemed like whatever happened was sudden, unexpected, and not anything they could have predicted. Just what you wanted when breaking into the room of the culprit who had been attacking and abducting trainers...

Not to mention Odile dangling the actual prison bottle between her fingers. Honestly, he wasn't even surprised by that.

"Okay, good, that's good," she said, rubbing her forehead. "Are we heading to the dorm or not?"

Steven glanced over at the newcomer to their little group, and recognized May, the young girl with the Ninetales. He remembered from other encounters with her on the island, she'd had a steady head on her shoulders, and this time was no different.


"I agree, we should go there now. It seems we have a lot to discuss," he said, giving a sidelong glance at Wes and Odette.

That, and he wanted to be as far away from the lounge as possible when Xavian and Orzo returned from the Maw...

 

[HelloYellow17]

Spirit had stopped, looking intently at Wes, her eyes narrowed. "I sense something."

A growl made Wes jump, and he saw a rather odd-looking Ninetales growling at him. Could she smell Hoopa, maybe?

Steven and Kimiko were still frowning at him questioningly, too. Gods, he hated being stared at. “Look, just wait until we’re somewhere more private, all right?” He couldn’t blame everyone for being so jumpy, but it certainly wasn’t helping his own jittery nerves.

"I agree, we should go there now. It seems we have a lot to discuss," he said, giving a sidelong glance at Wes and Odette.

Wes nodded and gestured for Odette to lead the way, then they all filtered out of the room one by one.

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