Chapter 9

Plans Form

The group stood silent for a moment after Mew left. Luca laughed weakly to try and break the tension. "Hehe. Well that certainly puts a new light on things."

Braun dropped to his seat. "As far as I see, nothing's changed."

"How can you say that?" Wasser asked, also sitting down. "We have to go save the world…or something."

Braun was rarely surprised. But a talking Buizel next to him caused him to fall back slightly. "Did the Buizel just talk?"

"Yeah. So?"

"So a Pokemon speaking English isn't something you run into every day."

"I'm not speaking human."

"Then how am I understanding you?"

"Boys, enough!"

The two silenced at Sam's outburst. She even caused herself to become a bit quieter.

"Mew must have done something so that you can hear him, Braun," Luca said. "Obviously we're supposed to work together and do this."

"Let me say something else that should be 'obvious.' The only reason I'm going along with this is to make Roth suffer. I don't care about you," he pointed to Luca, "you," pointing to Wasser, "or you," pointing to Sam, "or anyone else on this god-forsaken planet. I'm doing this for me and me alone."

"Gees," Wasser grunted to the side. "Didn't anyone teach you to have a heart?"

"I was taught to ignore it," he put back.

"Please!"

They silenced again.

Luca sighed. He softly whispered to himself, "This is going to take forever." And then to everyone, "Regardless, let's just go ahead with this. Braun, since you know the most about where we're breaking into, I'll let you come up with the general plan."

Braun looked at each of them, giving them a quick scan. None of them seemed fit to break into any form of secret base. "Well, with you three it won't be easy. But I'll see what I can do."

Wasser gave him a glare, but Luca beat him to it. "How long will it take?"

"Give me an hour. I'll have a workable plan by then."

"Done."

Braun nodded and stood, leaving the other three on the ground.

Wasser looked at Luca. "You can't possibly trust this guy."

"He did get us out," Sam pointed out. "And Mew said we were destined to work together."

The Buizel looked back at the man who was now sitting facing the trees. "Well I don't trust him."

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Braun sat motionless for the next forty minutes. He usually did this when he was given open objectives. It was a special meditative state that his late trainer had passed to him. In it, he could visualize possible ways of executing the mission, and possible outcomes for most of them. It wasn't nearly foolproof; every mission had infinite variables that had to be accounted for. But it still helped him get a number of options.

In his mind, he floated through the walls of the base. First would be getting into the complex. The main elevator wouldn't work; it was monitored at all times. The number of service ladders could work, but they left them too far from their target to be of real use.

His mind stumbled onto a maintenance chamber a few stories below. It was a water station. He didn't know the specifics of it, but it opened up a way to get in.

There were only two ways into Sector 6, Roth's labs, outside of using the hallways. One involved using the air ducts like they had used to escape. Possible, but not very easily from this end. Another was to fake capture, a generally simple plan as long as you could escape capture on the inside. This would be nearly impossible as they would have triple security on the Shaiya this time.

That only left the hallways to get them inside. They would need some sort of distraction or disguise.

Once inside Sector 6, they'd need to get through the main lab to reach the head computer terminal. That would be their biggest problem. There was probably no way Braun could simply walk through. They would need a way to get the scientists out. Perhaps a false air leak.

Once through there, it would be smooth sailing. The computers could release the Pokemon, and they could use a chopper to escape, which was just south and up from Sector 6.

With the main route plotted out, Braun began to run through problem scenarios.

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Wasser paced anxiously staring at the man that still sat cross-legged by the trees. "It's been an hour. He's probably asleep or something."

"Please have patience, Wasser," Sam said gently. She was enjoying the calm of the scene, forgetting about the true carnage around her. Her eyes focused on the sky above her, which was now blue and clear with wispy clouds blowing by. "Try to relax a bit."

"Relax?! My mate is locked up in a cage! I can't relax!"

A rustling broke his train of thought. Braun stood and returned to them. "I've got a plan."

"About time." Wasser dropped to the ground, reforming their previous circle.

Braun drew a large circle in the ground between them. "This is the Centurion Complex, roughly, seen from the side. It's about fifty miles across and twenty deep." He drew another circle, close to the center. "This is where we're going, Sector 6. It's precisely ten miles below the surface."

"Hold on one second," Wasser said, throwing up his arm. "How do you expect us to get ten miles below ground in the middle of this base?"

"You're the one that wanted to do this," he answered coolly. "And I'm getting to the how."

Wasser began to steam silently, but he held his comments to himself.

Braun returned to his diagram. "About five hundred feet below ground, there's a service water station that feeds water into the facility." He drew a line down through the circles. "We'll use the water way to get down here, just below Sector 6. The system is filtered next an access panel. We'll let the water carry us down, then get out through the door."

"I may be wrong, but won't it take several minutes to get down that far?" Luca asked.

"Yes. But I have a special breathing filter with the gear I snuck out. You three will have to make this part of the trip inside pokeballs."

Wasser jumped instantly. "You can't be serious! I am not going to be put at the mercy of this idiot here. He's probably planning to put us right back in the cages for a reward."

"Wasser, sit down."

"No! This plan is ridiculous. We should just leave now." He started to turn.

Luca thought fast. "What if Wasser went with you in the water?" They all stopped and turned. "He is a water Pokemon. He should be able to make it no problem."

Braun looked at the Buizel. "That would be acceptable."

Despite wanting to slug the man, Wasser sat down.

"Good. Now, once we're inside, we'll need to split up. Two of you will need to create a distraction while the other and I make for the central computer terminal." He pointed to a spot inside the Sector 6 circle. "Once there, I can release all of the Pokemon into the facility. There will be enough commotion for us to get a few and make our escape."

"And how do we collect them and make our escape?" Wasser asked mockingly.

"There's a system through the cage networks that place Pokemon inside pokeballs automatically and moves them anywhere in the facility. We can use that. Then, we just have to get out." He drew two long lines from the top of the circle down towards the bottom. "There's a tall hanger in the center of the facility. I can have my insider use a false code to have one on standby. As soon as we're finished, we load the Pokemon onto the chopper, capture it, and fly out."

"What are our chances of success?"

"Even with our best chances, it could be as low as 20 percent. If we time it during a shift change, somewhere around 68."

Luca scowled. "Not good odds."

"It's the best you've got. If you're scared, back out now. But this is the plan that will work."

Wasser answered for him. "We're in this. I don't care what you say, we'll get it done."

"In that case, I need to contact my man on the inside. He can help us." Braun pulled over his equipment bag and pulled out a radio, which he quickly tuned.

"Wait, won't they hear us?"

"I'm using a specific frequency that's outside of normal usage." He checked the slip of paper. 18.7500. He set it to positive duplex. "No one but him and some remote controlled cars will hear us."

He thumbed the transmitter. "Code alpha zulu black."

He waited a few seconds before resending the same call. A burst of static filled the speaker, and then, "Good to hear from you again, sir."

"You too, Phil. What's our status?"

"I'm back on general maintenance. You are…" He paused. "On a flight to the Orange Islands."

He nodded. So Phil had used a fake tracer, just as he'd suspected. "Good. How are you feeling about some more espionage work?"