"So what do we do now? Can I get out now?"
"Of course! Just go to the entrance!"
"Wait, I'm a mole though, why don't I just dig out!"
"The guards! You want to kill the guards!"
"Why? Wouldn't it just be a challenge?"
"Don't worry! You can overpower them easily!"
"Do I really need to kill them? They seem kind of dangerous."
"They contain plenty of energy! You just have to kill them!"
"But they'll kill me!"
"No they won't! You're much too strong!"
"How certain are you?"
"Very certain!"
"To energy we go!"
--Dump site 19--
"Hahah! I'm free! Welcome back your new king!"
A shadow swooped over and circled around the naked mole on the surface, its pale white skin a stark contrast to the dulled colors around it. The shadow shrank. The mole turned its head up, only to see the sun shining down brightly from above. A dark spot seemed to form up above, but it was unclear whether that was from his eyes being burned from looking at the sun or just a wisp of a cloud floating along.
"Ah, that cost me a bit of energy to look up. Guess what I remember of the outside must've changed! Maybe the humans took them away too!"
"Ah, the world's a much better place! Where should I go first? Maybe I should go to the humans first!"
A large shadow hovered in over him.
"Well isn't that a nice cloud! Provides plenty of shade! Pretty quiet around here I guess, better than before!"
The shadow shrank more and more. The large winged and feathered creatures swooped down and picked the unsuspecting mole up.
"Ahhh! Moles weren't meant to fly! Especially yours truely!"
"Hey! Stop flapping your wings! There's too much wind! Ahhh! How hard are these scales! What plastics did you eat to get them this hard!"
"Let me go! I command you! As the King of everywhere! Release me foul beast!"
"Wait no! I didn't mean that you could just drop me! Ahhh!"
Thunk! The mole fell straight into the layers of trash, sending shards of plastic everywhere, while the sides of the hole it just caused began to crumble apart, sending pieces of plastic down to cover the mole. The mole lay limp on the ground, twitching.
--Laboratory--
"Hi guys! Peaceful life here I guess, but I'm kinda stuck here. I dunno what they're doing but they look pretty fun!"
"Is this a prison or a new home? What do you think? But whatever, facts are I'm stuck here… and life's great!"
"Just think about it! Free food! No work!"
"Wait… Isn't that basically prison for life? Free food! Free housing! That's everything anybody needs to survive!"
"Well, For Alejandros maybe not… He gets his blood taken all the time! But he gets more than enough in return! I mean just look at all the energy he gets! I get the scraps! Imagine the injustice! He gets to sit around and do nothing while getting all the energy! Meanwhile, I do exactly the same thing and get almost no energy compared to him! This is injustice! Here I am stuck on his back, and being jerked along to wherever he wants to go!"
"This is injustice! I demand compensation! While we both do nothing, he gains more than I do! Do you all see this inequality? Nobody even has any use for it right now! He's just building up his core in case he needs to use it later! As if! Wheres the danger! This is illogical! I want an equal amount of energy too!"
"What could that fool do with so much energy! Would he grow bigger? Bigger is badder! If he became bigger then he'd be a bigger target! Bigger target means more vulnerable! Who even wants to become bigger! Does he want a harder shell? Encrust it with diamonds perhaps! A waste! His shell is hard enough! What could he do! I know! More legs to trip on! There's absolutely no point!"
"What I could do with it is produce invent new acids! I could make acids that burn twice as quick! You can never have too many acids! You see these lumps? They're condensed materials! I just have to add this and that, but those are all commonly found materials in the air! And then I can make acids! It also takes energy to hold the acid! You think it doesn't burn me? It does!"
"What's Alejandros likely to do? A new heart! He's been lusting for a 6th one for so long! The more heartbeats per second, the more inefficiency in energy! He's practically throwing away energy for pure speed! Not to mention those hearts degrade super fast!"
"Now what would Senny do… I'm sure he gets about as much energy as us...Wait! Senny gets as much energy as both of us combined! Assuming that the humans give us both equal amounts of sludge… But still! He gets all that energy!
"What's he gonna do? He wouldn't possibly thinking of covering up his metal shell with gaudy diamonds now would he? Maybe another segment? Or he could grow fatter! But then he wouldn't fit into that shell now, would he. Eh, who cares about Senny, he can dump energy into building that hundredth heart now I guess. Too many constraints with what he could generate."
"I do enjoy my core though, my life savings of energy… And that is exactly why I should own this energy! My core is the most impressive thing every! It's history is fascinating! It's been through hundreds of years to history!"
--Sample Cage 455-464211--
"Jonathan! That's my energy!"
"No that's mine! If we build it all up in a single mole, we can break out!"
"How do we even know if we can break out!"
"Based on what energy I have right now, I think I can store it all up and then grow super strong all of a sudden and break free! Who's in?"
"Sure I mean, that wouldn't be much of a change I suppose. You got my vote."
"Everybody who wants this, say aye"
"Aye-aye Jonathan"
"Aye I'm in"
"Aye, sounds good"
"Aye."
"Aye."
"Aye."
"Aye."
"Aye."
"Nay, Jonathan, this is just ridiculous!"
"What? Why?"
"How do we know you aren't going to abuse that power! You could easily turn on and kill us!"
"I'll turn on them first though, you see, I hate them and I don't hate you, because they've captured us!"
"What about after you kill them all huh?"
"I still won't! I have no reason to! You can run while I kill them if that makes you feel safer though!"
"Eh, whatever, not giving you the energy won't do anything either…"
"Glad to see you onboard, Mark."