Author's Note: Hope you like, I had trouble with this since I had writers block. I did the best I could and I rushed on it so it may not be my best again. Enjoy.
Chapter 10: New Plan
Both Rovers didn't say anything after the radio fell silent, I mean what could they say? The only cure they needed to get was now possibility in the enemy's hand, something they can't deal with right now. Both were so wrapped up in this that they didn't even know that the rain had already started to pour down, slowly starting to soak them. "What…What do we do now?" Axel asked, looking up at his brother in law.
For once Hunter didn't know how to respond, nothing had prepared them for this. Now things are much harder than it was before. "I don't know, I really don't," He responded. He stood back up and started off in one direction, "Come on we got to find a place out of the rain." All Axel could do was follow, there wasn't that much he could say at the moment at all. They both were at a loss and they best get to a dry place to think it over.
They both walked for a few minutes, keeping an eye out for any place that could shield them from the rain. Fortunately luck seemed to be on their side, as they found a large hollowed out tree, the opening at the base of the tree, which was big enough for them to fit in. Curiosity overcame them to why this tree was hollow but they didn't care at the moment. Once inside they both pressed their backs against the tree's trunk, sliding down till they were sitting on the ground.
Axel looked over at Hunter and was surprised to see him taking off his vest, and other equipment. "What are you doing?"
"Our stuff is wet, we best take them off so they can dry off," He explained as he carefully laid them on the ground. "You best do the same thing."
Axel nodded as he did the same thing, but also noticing that Hunter still had the enemy's radio. He seemed to be fiddling with it, "Why do you still have that?"
The retriever continued his work as he responded, "its best we hold on to this, best way to monitor their chatter so we can intercept and info."
"Good idea," He nodded, but still the word from earlier came back. "But what do we do now; I mean the flower is in the enemies hands."
"We still have a chance," Hunter interjected, looking at Axel. "Remember that maybe only scouts found it, and they're camping out till the morning. We still have a chance to find them and take the plant from them."
"But how do we locate them, this forest is huge, I don't think we can find them in time."
"I think I might have that covered," The Akita watched as his brother in law set the radio aside and reached into his pack, rummaging for something. He seemed to have found what he was looking for as he arm stopped moving. Withdrawing from the pack he held some kind of device, from the looks of it he had some kind of radio.
It then came back to mind of what it was, a special radio the professor developed, just in case they needed to contact him or the Master from long distance, without the use of their ship. "Calling HQ?"
"Yeah, maybe the professor can track the radio signal that was transmitted and locate where it originated." He then started turning knobs on the thing as it made some static sounds, trying to get the right frequency. "Hunter to HQ, anyone pick up."
They both waited in silence, waiting for any kind of response but nothing came so far. But then their hopes rose as a voice got through. "Hunter it's the Master, what's your status?"
They breathe a sigh of relief at that, glad it went through but then got back at the topic at hand. "We're in a hollowed out tree, it's shielding us from some rain at the moment. We just got out of a brief scuffle with some of Havoc's men and took one of their radios. But there's some bad news, we heard one of the transmissions and they may have found the flower." Hunter explained as they both awaited a response.
"That's unfortunate to hear, but are to two of you ok?"
Axel then answered for the both of them, "Yes, we're both good, but there's something you can do for us that can help."
"And what is that?"
"I can hook up the radio and send you the previous transmission, and then you can have the professor search where it came from."
Silence was on the end, possibly the Master was thinking the plan over to see if it could work. It didn't take long for them to get a response. "Yes that should work, send it and I'll get the Professor to work on it, I can't promise you a speedy process."
Hunter then took a cord, which was attach to the device, and hooked it to the radio. Turning the dial he returned it back to the original frequency that it once was on. Once that was done he then pressed one button and the process started, "There, that should give it to you."
"Ok I'm getting it right now, We're try to sort it all out, but like I said it will take a while and when I say a while maybe a few hours."
"Roger that, over and out," The retriever ended as that transmitting was completed, then unhooked the radio. Both of them sighed as the waiting game began. Hunter then began fiddling with the radio again, turning the knobs again.
"What are you doing now?" Axel asked.
"Making sure that this can pick up any radio transmission, so that way we can be a step ahead of them." He finished what he was doing and laid the device on the ground, making sure that the volume was at max. "We should try to get some sleep; we need every single minute of it."
"But how?" Axel questioned, wondering how this could work. "We need as much time as we can get, there's no telling how long it could take to get to the destination we need to get to."
"I know, that's why we have to modify the rotation, which is something I hate to do," He responded as he started outside, watching as the rain fell. "You go first, we'll rotate after two and a half hours then we'll head out, rain or no rain."
Axel gave a look that said, 'are you crazy'. "Man are you sure we can get by with that little sleep?"
"It's a risk but we can't risk taking an all-nighter, nor sleep any longer than needed to. I hate doing it but it's the only way," Hunter explained as he gave Axel a sincere face.
He decided to accept it, knowing that the retriever was right and knew being tired would only hinder them. So using his pack as a pillow he lay down and rested his head on it, getting comfortable on the ground. Closing his eyes it only took a few minutes before he drifted off, but then his dream turned into something weird.
He could only black around him, but voices rang around ever where, they were echoing in his head, making it impossible for him to understand. Concentrating on certain one he could hear voices….ones of himself, Hunter…and Havoc.
"Axel you need to get the flower, don't worry about me!" Hunter's voice rang out, he sounded almost like he was in trouble, but there was indication of what.
"Well I see you have choice to make," Havoc's voice rang out, almost sounding pleased. "Save the retriever or the plant…what do you do?"
"No…No…what do I do?" He heard himself say, conflicted with what he heard.
Things seemed to start taking a turn for the worst, but before he could hear more everything faded. Coming back to reality his body was being shaken, eyes opened he found Hunter shaking him awake. Strange he thought to himself as he sat up, "What's going on?"
"Hey it's your turn to take watch," Axel's eyes widen at that, two and a half hours passed already? He couldn't really believe it mostly since it only felt like a minute passed and the fact that he was still tired. Still he sat with his back away from the wall, pouring water from his canteen into his hand to splash into his face.
"Ok…Go ahead; it'll only take me a minute to wake up." Hunter nodded as he did the same thing with his pack and drifted off to sleep.
Axel stayed quiet, not even sure if he should have mentioned his so called dream. It could be a dream vision, or the stress from the mission made him dream it up. But yet he remembered what happened when he didn't heed the warning from the last one. The words kept flowing back and forth in his head, trying to fully analyze what it could mean. After a while he dropped the thought, he needed to keep his ears focus in case anyone came by. He decided to meditate for a bit, needing to clear his mind. The dream kept coming back, but he pushed it away, whatever it was he didn't know if was something to heed or not.
A/N: Hope you like, I tried with this so I hope it's good. It's getting hard now for some reason but i'm trying. Hopefully it can get easier.