The rejuvenation chamber lived up to its name. Physically, if nothing else.
Under the water from the shower, Elytra had watched her wounds seal up and fade away in a matter of minutes. Not even bruises remained. When she'd stepped out and caught sight of herself in the mirror, she saw that some of her colour had come back too. It made her look slightly less haunted, if nothing else.
The clothes Elytra had been provided with were strange. The "recreation" outfit was a simple jumpsuit with a close that ran up the entire front of it, completely seamless, as though it had been poured rather than sewn. And when she'd pulled it on, the close had vanished the moment she'd pulled the tab to the collar of the outfit. She couldn't even feel it, just an unbroken expanse of fabric across her torso. Thankfully, the tab had no difficulty opening the outfit again, which at least meant she wouldn't be trapped in such a strange article of clothing.
The shoes provided were just as nondescript white as the rest of the clothing, and once she pulled them on, they seemed to meld into the jumpsuit, making it even more of a one piece ensemble.
From the few examples of the clothing her captors had worn - the sleek armoured suits of those who had decimated her home, the ceremonial robes of the announcer at the arena, and the simple suit of the guide from her room's display - it was clear that this absolute void of style they forced their captives to wear was a statement. And if Elytra had to guess, then that statement was probably, "You are nothing."
Or, more likely, it was a statement on how her captors didn't think of their captives as people at all.
Once cleaned and dressed, Elytra had set out to explore the rest of her cell. It was a very short expedition.
The rejuvenation chamber in what she assumed was the back of the room, the display at the ceiling that was still showing a clock she couldn't read, a single person bed with no bedding, all of it stark white and seamless.
She'd tried the walls, pushing and pulling to see if any panel would open, but aside from the corners of the room, the walls were seemingly solid slabs. It was only the light outlining the door and "handle" of the rejuvenation room that let her know they were still there.
She wasn't sure where the lighting was coming from inside the room. From the almost complete lack of shadows, it was as if every surface cast its own glow. And the temperature in the room, of the water in the shower, it was all perfectly tepid. Not cold enough to be distracting, not hot enough to be overwhelming, it was just in the middle ground enough to go all but unnoticed.
Even the clock display was a carefully neutral white. If she hadn't seen the colourful alien on it earlier, she would have assumed it only worked in black and white.
Everything about this place felt like it was designed to be unsettling.
Eventually, after who knew how long, a chime rang out and the clock faded away to show the yellow and black alien once more.
"It is now feeding time. Please exit your room and join the queue line."
As they faded away, another outline of a door lit up on the wall opposite the rejuvenation chamber. From where she sat on the bed, Elytra stared at it for a moment, and this was clearly not what her captives wanted, as the collar around her neck began to lift, tugging with increasing force in the direction of the door. Not wanting to be thrown around as she had in the arena, Elytra stood to leave the room.
She quickly joined the line that was forming outside, and saw that this section of it consisted of people from her race. A few she recognized from her colony, but she couldn't say where the rest of them were from. Beyond them were more captives, all aliens. And all of them had the washed out look of people who had been kept in suspended animation for far too long.
In an efficiently quick amount of time, all the cells had been emptied of their occupants. Most had come out willingly, though some had been dragged out by whatever force animated their collars. As soon as everyone was lined up, all their collars lifted slightly forward, urging the line on.
They all followed this silent demand with equal quiet, no one willing enough to strike up a conversation. What was there to even say in this situation?
It wasn't long before they found themselves in another white room, this one large enough to hold the multiple tables it would take to seat those who had survived the first round of the tournament. Unlike the cells, or the hallway they'd passed through, this room had a lattice of walkways above it, along which patrolled armoured guards. Elytra couldn't see anything on them that looked like a weapon, but she knew that didn't mean they weren't armed in some other way.
More tugging from the collars had everyone splitting off into what must have been their designated seats. Elytra found herself at a table with her own people, all as pale as her. The moment they were all seated, panels slid open on the table directly in front of everyone in a chair, and from each of these holes emerged a plate of tan cubes, and a cup of grey liquid. A few seats down from Elytra, one of her kind popped a cube into her mouth and gave it a chew. After a few seconds, she shrugged as if it say, "It's fine?"
The others were not too keen on digging in at that less than ringing endorsement, but hunger won out in the end.
The taste of the food was… well, it was. Distantly nutty, if she was feeling generous. It was as if someone had formed dense soil into cubes, stripped them of flavour, and then explained to them what nuts were supposed to taste like. The liquid, despite having something in it that gave it its colour and viscosity, was somehow even more tasteless than water. Elytra could only hope that it was nutritional.
The food was eaten and the liquid drank out of necessity rather than enjoyment, and the moment everyone was done, the collars once again encouraged them to leave their seats. In a line once more, Elytra and the rest were herded off to another room.
This new space was certainly the most cluttered of the rooms she'd been in, but that wasn't saying much. "Clutter" in this case meant an assortment of benches, tables, and chairs haphazardly placed across the floor, some of which were occupied by other captives. A few glanced up when Elytra's group entered, but they were quick to return to their quiet conversations. The place had an air like a library about it, if it wasn't for the armoured guards pacing along walkways above them. Once they were all past the threshold of the door, the force pulling their collars died away, and the newcomers quickly scattered off into their own little groups.
Elytra was about to follow after the few she recognized from home, when she caught a familiar shade of blue out the corner of her eye.
Leaning against a wall with their arms crossed was the blue skinned alien who had fought alongside her in the arena. The moment they saw Elytra was looking their way, they tilted their head in a clear invitation, and Elytra made her way over.
She could only hope that this alien was as friendly off the battlefield as they were on it.