here's chapter 13! and i'd like to thank Arysd for all her help and support :D
Max's trip through the tunnel was taking him longer than he had expected. What he had thought to be the outside world, was actually a light. Like, and actual light that comes from a light bulb.
The discovery of the light neither disappointed or excited him and he pressed on through the tunnel.
The walls were made of metal and there was a slight breeze flowing through the dark tunnel. From this Max was able to conclude that the tunnel was probably used for air conditioning in the storage room.
But then there was the light on the wall and the size of the duct. Although Max was 17, he was still quite short for his age. His entire build was small, which allowed him to easily fit through the spaces in the duct. Even if he was more largely built, he wouldn't have had to worry about fitting. The duct was quite roomy, and a full grown man could probably fit through the it with out too many difficulties. Max decided that this meant the duct had probably once been used for some kind of escape route or something to that effect.
Crawling on his hands and knees through the darkness was starting to get tiresome when Max came to a fork in the duct. One passageway led to the right and the other to the left. The Bidoof that had happily been walking behind Max now came to sit next to him.
"Which way now? You had to have gotten in here somehow." Max said turning to the little creature.
"Bi-doo!" it replied happily as it started to walk down the right path.
"The right huh? Well may as well give it a shot!"
Max followed the creature down the right air duct and smiled to himself. Oddly, he was having fun.
Elsewhere, back in the storage room, a man in a black suit and a man who was wearing a black cloak walked through the metal door and were greeted with the sight of an empty room.
"Where is he!?" Carson began looking behind the piles of boxes. The boy he had left there was gone. Carson then turned to his acquaintance.
"I thought you told me that this room had no escape routes. This was the ideal place to keep a 17 year old boy according to you." Carson continued to walk around the room. Soon, he stumbled upon the open air duct. He turned again to the man who had accompanied him to the room.
"This looks like quite a large escape route, wouldn't you say?" Carson stood and walked towards the other man.
"I don't appreciate being lied to Cade." Carson stared into the eyes of his younger brother.
"I didn't lie Carson. That air duct cover was bolted to the wall. It would be impossible for a 17 year old kid to open it." Cade replied. Cade was strongly against all of the shady deals and organizations his brother was involved in, and this time Carson had gone to far. Kidnapping a 17 year old boy and using his 19 year old sister to get the ransom that was requested was where Cade drew the line. Especially since his arrival in Lilycove, when he had learned that that 19 year old sister was the same may he had met in Fortree.
"Huh." Carson grunted. "Where does that tunnel lead?"
"I'm not sure. I've never actually climbed through it. We should probably check outside for any openings, and we may want to get going. That duct may lead directly outside." Cade started walking towards the door but stopped when his brother hadn't followed.
"Re-bolt it first." Carson demanded.
"What? Why?"
"So that if we cut him off on the outside then he won't be able to come back."
"We could just relock the door." Cade suggested. His brother, as he expected, shook his head in disagreement.
"No re-bolt it." Cade sighed and reached into his pocket. He pulled out two poke balls and called out a Geodude and a Shinx.
"Okay you guys. Let's get working." Cade told them. They set off to work on the air duct cover and Carson hovered over his brother's shoulder, watching his every move.
"I'm trying to work here." Cade said annoyed.
"I'm just making sure that you don't mess up or anything." Carson said. Cade rolled his eyes at his brother's obsession with perfection. He wanted everything to be perfect, yet he realized that perfection was impossible. Cade finished his job rather quickly and stood up.
"That should just about do it." He said as he recalled his Pokemon and walked towards the door. Carson was bending down observing the job his brother had done. Eventually he stood up and shook his head.
"How could that kid have possibly unbolted the cover?" He said. He took a step towards the door and then looked at his brother. The blue eyes that normally sparkled with amusement were had now been dimmed. Cade was staring at his brother. A cool even stare that could send chills through the body of the cruelest people alive. Carson was slightly nervous.
"Cade...what's the matter?" he asked. His brother just kept staring.
"I don't get it all I said was how could he have unbolted the cover...Is something wrong with that?" A plan had been forming inside of Cade's head. Ever since Cade had learned of the plan, he had pondered over how he could help May, Drew, and Max. The idea was flawless.
"Whatever your planning won't work little brother. I know you want to help the girl and her brother. I can see it in your eyes. Every part of my plan was made to be flexible in case such a thing as revolt happened. You can't win." Carson smiled a nervous smile.
"You're not the only one who got any smarts from mom and dad. I inherited my fair share too." With those words, Cade slammed the metal door shut and locked it with the key he had grabbed from Carson's pocket.
"Big mistake Cade!" Carson yelled through the door.
"Don't worry, bro. I know what I'm doing. Your plan is done for. I've had one thought circulating through my head since you told me about the plan, and that thought is the perfect way to stop you."
"Ha! As if you could stop my plan from taking effect! The contest starts in a few hours. There's no way May and Drew will be able to figure out that that boy escaped by then. She'll win the competition and then move on to the next. It's as easy as that. Some things have been happening in your favor, however. Things such as the loosened air duct cover. But that's about it!"
Carson was hysterical inside the small storage room. He knew that his brother was capable of stopping his entire plan in an instant.
"Heh. You think that the loosened air duct cover was just lucky? Oh no big brother! That boy had some help with that." Cade was smiling from ear to ear. It was working! His brother was helpless and trapped inside the small room. Now all that was left was to find the boy, return him to his sister, and get the police.
Now, to find that boy.
The crawl down the air duct seemed never ending and Max was starting to get tired. The Bidoof that was poking along in front of him was also showing signs of getting tired.
"How long have we been crawling around here?" Max asked of the little creature.
"Bi-doo." the creature replied. They were both quite discouraged. The small little Bidoof had not remebered the trip inside being so long...maybe they had chosen the wrong tunnel to go down back when the duct forked into the two seperate ways.
They crawled on and on, and the same conversation as before was repeated several times more. Then, when Max was just about to give up and head back the way they had come, the Bidoof got a spark of energy and took off running.
"Wait! Don't leave me here!" Max called. He quickly scrambled after the Bidoof. Max rounded a corner in the tunnel and his heart fell. The Bidoof was standing at a dead end. Would he really have to go all the way back?
"But we came so far!" Max whined. He sat back against the wall and buried his head in his hands. The Bidoof came over and nudged his leg.
"Bi-doo! Bi-doo!" It said. Max looked at it in confusion. The creature was happy for some reason. Suddenly, the Bidoof ran back to the dead end and stood up on its back legs. I didn't even know a Bidoof could do that, Max thought.
The creature was nosing the ceiling of the tunnel. Max got back on his hands and knees and crawled over to the Bidoof.
"What is it little fella?" he asked. The Bidoof just kept nosing the ceiling. Max looked up and examined the ceiling. He discoverd that where the plate would normally connect with the walls of the tunnel there were tiny black creases. Suddenly, an idea popped into his head. He put his hands firmly on the ceiling plate and pushed up.
Slowly, he felt something move. The dead end was his way out! He pushed harder and harder on the plate and it continued moving. Soon, little rays of light penetrated into the dark tunnel. Max continued pushing upwards and his excitement rose. Suddenly, the entire plate was lifted from its place and light flooded through the tunnel.
Max's eyes snapped shut. The amount of brightness of the outside world was a huge change from the darkness of the tunnel. Max slowly opened his eyes, a little afraid of what he may see. He was only some what confused when he looked up to see a tall man with blue eyes smiling down at him.
"Looked like you could use some help." The man smiled and helped pull Max out of the tunnel. The Bidoof jumped up after him.
"Uh. Thanks." Max said as he brushed himself off.
"We should get to the contest stadium. Your sister is probably starting her contest right about now. Oh and by the way, the name's Cade."
"My sister!? Oh yeah I"m Max. Where are we?" Max looked around him, and Cade didn't need to answer. It was clear from the view overlooking the city that they were in Lilycove.
"Now how did I get here?" Max questioned.
"Ah ah ah! No time for questions. We've got to move, move, move!" Cade said as he broke out into a run.
"Wait! What's going on!? Ugh. Come on Bidoof. Guess we should follow him."
"Bi-doo!" the creature said. The Bidoof and Max took off running after Cade. Max had no idea where he was going other than the fact that it was, if Cade hadn't lied, towards his sister.
Okey dokey so I know this part of the story is a little rushed and a lot of things aren't explained but cut me some slack! science is annoying the heck outta me. yes, science! by that i mean a large homework project that is one of those projects that are time consuming, pointless, and the only reason your teachers assigns it to you is to be mean! but all my whining aside, thanx for reading :D