"Come on, follow us." the taller guard said, speaking to 6.
As he spoke, the guard turned his back to 6, entirely unconcerned about 6 attacking him.
As he turned, the shorter guard followed, neither of them looking back at 6 to see if he was following behind them.
6 knew their confidence likely came from strength, but it irked him nonetheless to be treated as if he wasn't a threat.
No matter how true it was.
6 made up his mind as he saw the actions and attitude of the guards.
Trotting along behind them, 6 began speaking as if they were three bosom friends who had known each other for years, ignoring the fact that he was imprisoned and that they were his guards.
"So what are we doing today, boys? Anything fun on the table?" 6 said.
The shorter guard's body cringed as if he was disgusted by 6's words, while the taller one turned over his shoulder to look back at 6 while he continued walking.
"Fun? It might be, but you really shouldn't have your hopes up much."
"Thats okay, we'll just make our own fun! Let's play a questions game. I'll go first!" 6 exclaimed. "How long have you guys worked here and what's the toughest, meanest prisoner you've ever seen?"
The tall guard chuckled and turned back around, facing forward once more without responding to 6's question.
"And how about the armor? Is it like, some fancy tech, or do you guys have some special material you use for it?" 6 rattled on, not waiting for them to answer before he moved onto another question. "Or is not armor at all. Are you guys some kind of living armor from the same species?"
Shaking his head, the tall guard continued walking forward, bring 6 down a long hallway filled with the same doors found on his own cell.
Hundreds of these cells extended behind 6.
"Are you guys even the same species at all? Are you even a species? You could totally be some type of automated guards, but you don't act like you're soulless machines."
The cells all had the same matching appearance.
There weren't any numbers, or any other distinguishing features on them whatsoever.
Whatever method they used to sort their prisoners and keep track of who is in what cell, it wasn't visible to the naked eye.
Although there were some marks on the walls, floor, and ceiling, it was clear that these weren't for guidance.
They were dents, scratches, or otherwise slight amounts of damage present in the materials that made up these surfaces.
As a prison, and with the knowledge that they did not seem to physically restrain their prisoners, it could be inferred that these marking were the results of prisoners resisting, likely in a desperate attempt to escape.
"Are we going to a cafeteria? I don't know if you guys eat, but I definitely need to eat." 6 said. "I mean, not immediately, I had a big meal this morning, but in general. If you guys do need to eat, how often do you need to eat? Is it an all the time thing?"
"Bless you, you remind me of the damn researchers with all your questions." The tall guard chuckled.
"Awh, you flatter me." 6 pretended to swoon and blush as he spoke, acting like a schoolgirl whose crush just complimented them.
Although it could have been assumed, the guard's words confirmed that they weren't the ones who conducted experiments on the prisoners, as there was a bit of contempt in his words.
"Don't compare him to our people" The shorter guard said with aggression in his voice.
This was the first time 6 had heard the short one speak, and his voice and tone came as a surprise to 6.
Despite his smaller stature, and the way the taller guard spoke to him, his voice was deep and rich.
With the way the two guards exchanged bits of armor for their bet, it was likely that the size of their armor was tied to the strength of it in some way.
Thus, 6 had believed that the taller guard was the older, more experienced one of the two.
But hearing the shorter guards voice, he was no longer confident about his assumption.
While he couldn't judge every species the same as his own, the voice of the guards made the shorter one sound much older, like a grizzled man with greying hair compared to the tall guard, who spoke like a young man in the prime of his life.
"Don't be such a worrywart, that's why everyone calls you a chump now." The taller guard said.
The armor of the shorter guard swelled in size for a moment, as though it was inflating, but quickly stopped and returned to normal.
After resuming his normal appearance, the shorter guard no longer spoke.
"If I didn't know better, I'd say someone a little sensitive about that word. Thank god I don't know any better." 6 tried to annoy the shorter guard, hoping to anger him more.
If he could get the two guards to come to blows, it would give him a chance to see their strength without having to risk his own wellbeing.
The tall guard chuckled at 6's words.
Other than that, however, neither guard showed any reaction to his inciting words.
6 hadn't expected them to immediately turn to one another and begin fighting with such a minor poke at the short guard's ego, but it was worth a shot.
"Alright, here we are. You could turn this place into a cafeteria if you've got the stomach for it, but good luck with that." Both guards came to a stop as the tall guard began speaking, just in front of the end of the hallway.
Pass the hallway was a large open area, one that was very clearly meant for battle.
There were marks covering the entire circular arena, much more than were present within the hallway itself.
They were deeper as well, layered over each other as they were.
The traces of battle could be seen all over, except upon the floor.
The floor was entirely untouched, whether it was due to the material it was made of or from being prepared, 6 could not tell.
Just as 6 was about to ask another question, the shorter guard thrust his entire arm into the wall on his left.
It sunk all the way in, reaching up beyond his elbow.
Annoyed with 6 to begin with, the short guard wanted to be done with his task as early as possible, to get away from the bastard next to him who had taken away much of his armor.
An identical copy of the guard's arm emerged from the wall just behind 6, on his right.
The arm was over double the size of the actual arm of the guard, and as it reached toward 6, the hand of the arm grew even larger.
Grabbing 6, the arm lifted him into the arm, tossing him toward the arena.
Unable to struggle against it, 6 flew through the air, landing on the unblemished ground of the arena.
6 rolled to a stop several feet into the arena, jumping to his feet as he looked in the direction of the hallway that he had been tossed out of.
The two guards had already turned away from him, each of them walking into the wall next to them, in opposite directions.
Like when the short guard had thrusted his arm into the wall, they seamlessly sunk into the wall, disappearing in just a short moment.
Once they were out of sight, the hallway slowly disappeared, as there was a wall phasing into place where the entrance to the hallway had been.
The wall appeared in the exact same way the door to the cell 6 had been in had opened and closed.
Whatever it was, it left a seamless wall behind him, ensuring that there was no leaving from the direction he entered.
6 was expecting a similar occurrence to take place on the other side of the room, as he was brought to this place to fight.
However, after a short wait, nothing emerged from any of the walls, leaving 6 alone in an arena with no one to fight.
Suddenly, in the arena, the lights became brighter, fully illuminating the room.
As it did, a portion of the ceiling above part of the arena began melting, drops of it falling to the floor.
On the opposite side, a dark puddle formed, almost identical to the material of the walls.
After several seconds, the ceiling stopped dripping, and the melted areas seemed to reform against itself, as if no material had been removed from it.
"Okay, this is so fucking cool." 6 said to himself as he looked at the puddle.
A broad smile formed on his face as he began slightly hopping in place.
In the center of the puddle a shape began forming, rising up as if something was emerging from beneath the surface of it.