14. The Hidden Mine

"…picked him up yesterday. We've all been recalled now." One of the Metagross' voices floated across to where Snivy was hidden in a petrified silence, "I suppose we'll be leaving soon."

"We've got what we need?"

"No, but we've got the means to get it."

"Good enough. There's one missing though isn't there, out of the set that we haven't found."

"Command are handling the situation, we're needed back at base now."

"How long until the ghost forces get involved?"

"Knowing them, they might already be involved. It's our job to get out of here before they're onto us. Regardless of how much they know, they're not on our side."

"But they know about the Snivy?"

"Yeah…that they do know. Nothing we can do about that now, though Command isn't going to be best pleased."

"You can say that again."

"Let's get down into the mine already, we're not meant to hang around in here."

"This place is always abandoned it makes no difference, no one ever comes in."

"Do you want to tell that to Command see what they say?" the first voice sounded disparaging

"Yeah you're right, the mine."

The two Metagross fell silent and began to move in Snivy's direction, it was difficult to see much of them as they walked save from the light reflecting off their steel bodies but Snivy didn't dare breathe, terrified that any movement would give him away. Fortunately the low light saved him. The Metagross stalked straight past his hiding place, clanking as they did so until they reached the massive furnace behind him. Snivy watched them in terror as one of them raised its two front legs and clambered into the furnace. The second one followed suit. There were clanking sounds for a few more seconds then everything fell silent again. Snivy didn't move for another minute before he decided the coast was clear and he pulled himself out, hearth thudding at twice its usual rate and his head pounding from the information he had just received. The ghost forces hadn't authorised the attack on the lake. They had nothing to do with it. These Metagross weren't receiving instructions from Haunter. Squeak had been right all along, he and the ghost forces were on the same side, at least as far as the attack on the lake was concerned. The ghost forces had been trying to protect him from these Metagross, they weren't connected. Regardless of what selfish motives the ghost forces might have had for holding him in their HQ, they weren't the ones who had brought him to Sinnoh and they didn't want him dead. The realisation came crashing down on Snivy in horror. He had run away from them, he had run away from the ghost forces when they had been working with him to figure this mess out. They had been trying to help him. He had to go back. But then something else hit him…

The Metagross had just gone down into what was clearly a hidden mine after saying they were being recalled. What if this was where the Metagross secret base was?

What if this was where Empoleon was being kept?

Snivy began to panic, he couldn't just walk into the secret base the Metagross were keeping, he'd be arrested immediately by stacks of extremely dangerous steel and psychic types who wanted him dead, but they were moving that very night, it would take him hours to get back to the ghost HQ alone by which time it would be too late. He was letting Empoleon slip through his fingers!

"I've got enough berries to last two nights." Snivy jumped out of his skin, but it was Parasect, climbing in through the hole the Metagross had made and looking at it in only mild curiosity.

Parasect…

Parasect stopped and then looked around in bemusement

"Parasect I'm over here!" Snivy called out to him. Parasect spun on the spot as Snivy forced himself out of his hiding place and staggered to the left so Parasect could make out his outline in the dark.

"What the hell do you think you're…"

"Metagross." Snivy cut him off quickly, "There are Metagross here."

"Rubbish." Snivy couldn't make out Parasect's expression from this distance in the low light

"I'm serious!" Snivy insisted desperately, "They came in here not moments ago, they broke that hole in the wall, they were the same ones who attacked the lake!" Snivy saw Parasect glance back around at the hole again.

"There can't be Metagross in here." He repeated firmly

"They have a base here, they said something about a mine and walked into that furnace." Snivy waved his arm at the furnace the Metagross had vanished into. He found it easier to stand up to Parasect for some reason now he was so determined, "I think Empoleon's in there! They're up to something big!"

Parasect gave no reply

"Parasect, I want to find out what's going on." Snivy told him

"Forget about it." He said, "Even if there is a hidden base there, walking in there will just get you killed."

"Don't you want to know what's going on?" Snivy asked in desperation.

"I couldn't care less." Parasect began laying the berries out on the floor without a second word on the subject. It suddenly gave Snivy a blinding flash of inspiration.

"Parasect…these Metagross are enemies of the ghost forces."

"Wouldn't surprise me."

"They're the ones who killed hundreds at the lake, the ghost forces still don't know their exact motives or what they're up to."

"Your point?"

"Any information about these is extremely valuable, even Azelf doesn't know what's going on. If we gave the ghost forces information from the Metagross base…don't you think that might help them reconsider detaining Rampardos and Gliscor?" Now Parasect was interested, Snivy saw him freeze and look up at him.

"Seriously?"

"The legendary Pokémon don't know anything about this operation, and we've got access to a secret Metagross base, I think that the ghost forces would go to quite some lengths to get information about this, they have no leads on a mass murderer, this is big." Parasect fell silent again for a moment as though considering everything Snivy had just said then let out an audible sigh.

"Fine. You've got me interested. But I'm in this for Gliscor and Rampardos, not you and your friends and certainly not the ghost forces." Parasect resumed laying out the berries into two distinct piles, "But I'm eating first." Snivy had forgotten about his hunger in his excitement and was almost too eager to get into the Metagross base to eat. But he knew he had to have something and managed several mouthfuls of the berries Parasect had gathered, glad to know they definitely weren't poisoned this time. After eating, the two of them cleared the rest of the berry supply to the side, concealing them under the edge of one of the conveyor belts to come back to later before they went down into the base.

"Okay." Parasect looked around the room, "So where is this theoretical hidden base?"

"The furnace." Snivy pointed around to the middle structure

"Alright…" Parasect began to walk, clicking his claws slightly to himself as he went until the two of them were level with the furnace. It was too dark to see anything much in it, "After you."

"You will follow me?"

"For goodness sake just show us how to get in."

Obediently, Snivy felt around on the furnace until he found the edge of the furnace and pulled himself up into it. He ducked into the furnace to find himself standing in the pitch dark in a hollow room. He walked blindly forwards able to see nothing and heard a loud clattering suggesting Parasect was climbing in behind him. Snivy turned around and helped pull him up into the furnace where he regained his balance.

"This is pointless." He snapped, but Snivy had seen the Metagross come in this way, somehow they had activated some mechanism which had…but it turned out Snivy didn't need to look. As he and Parasect stood there staring into the blackness there was a loud clunk in the darkness and suddenly the floor started to drop, "This had better not be a trap." Parasect's voice floated out of the darkness from somewhere to Snivy's left and Snivy suddenly found himself hoping the same thing as they dropped further and further down. It felt like a lifetime before the lift jerked abruptly to a halt. For a moment or two Snivy thought they had made a terrible, terrible mistake as nothing happened and he and Parasect remained there stood silently together in the dark.

Then the entire front of the lift split down the middle and slid to one side, letting light flood into the furnace lift. They were in a mineshaft tunnel, there were wooden supports holding up the ceilings and walls in place. The light was cast by a series of lit torches running out of sight.

"This is just an old mineshaft." Parasect scoffed as the two of them exited the lift and the doors slid shut behind them

"No…" Snivy said staring around, "If it was just an old mineshaft it would be abandoned like everything else."

"Looks pretty empty to me."

"The torches are lit." Snivy remarked. His brain was whirring, trying to pick up any information he could from the surroundings, "Someone's obviously been here recently."

"Let's just go." Parasect shoved past him and entered the passageway. He was doing a poor job of hiding how uncomfortable he felt. Snivy followed him quietly. Behind him, he heard the lift clunk as t began to rise back up towards the furnace above them, leaving them in the torch lit passage. The lack of light was starting to take its toll on Snivy, he was already feeling slightly hungry again, expending energy in the dark was not what a Snivy was designed to do. It was very echoey in the passageway as they walked deeper and deeper into the heart of the mine until Snivy found he could hear noises up ahead. He looked at Parasect and the two made brief eye contact before they reached a wooden door on the passage side. One glance at it told them that it was far newer than the prop supports composing the rest of the mine and both Parasect and Snivy pressed their heads against it to try and catch anything that was being said. The voices floating through it were muffled at first but as they listened wore words began to make sense.

"…couldn't possibly get information out of her." Came the voice of one of the Metagross, "We've tried everything."

"Not everything." Came another voice, this one definitely didn't belong to a Metagross but Snivy didn't recognise him, "When we get back we'll try the second resort."

"Are you sure we've got the right Pokémon?" the Metagross said, "I mean they could've just had visitors who were grass types."

"Then she would have told us that." The second voice, "The very fact that she's not talking tells us she's got something to hide."

"You're confident that you can get information out of her?"

"With what I have in mind she will talk. We'll wait, we're getting out of here in an hour when we're back at main base we'll know everything. What's more we'll need to know who interrupted the procedure and caused all this mess in the first place." That made Snivy start and he almost made an exclamation but kept his mouth shut.

"You're the boss."

"Get this place cleared up. In the unlikely event anyone does find this place we don't want to leave any traces we were here."

"Yes Commander." There was the sound of footsteps on the other side of the doorway and the voices faded completely.

"Let's get out of here…" Parasect whispered to Snivy

"No, we can't!" Snivy exclaimed, "Empoleon's here, Squeak's mum, and they're torturing her or I don't know what to try and get her to talk, we have to do something!"

"No…no we don't." Parasect told him, "What are you planning to do? March in there and declare yourself? That place is probably swarming with Metagross. We've heard enough now let's get out of here."

"How would you feel if they were holding your parents and torturing them for information?" Snivy aid aghast as Parasect's lack of empathy

"My parents didn't give a damn about me." Parasect's voice was suddenly bitter. The silence that followed this indicated that he hadn't meant to say this out loud.

"We've got to help!" Snivy insisted pretending he hadn't heard, "Besides, if we bring Empoleon back she can testify that you helped in this, that you were one of the people who helped her…that'll help your cause of getting the Interceptors off their charge."

"I know what you're trying to do." Parasect said viciously, "You're trying to use the Interceptors to persuade me to help you. Why the hell am I letting you?" Snivy couldn't think of anything to say to that, "Fine. Find a way in and I'll help you, but if you think I'm going to just rush in there waving my claws around you've got another thing coming."

"Thanks." Snivy let out all his breath

"Don't thank me yet."

Snivy put his ear right to the crack of the door. It certainly sounded empty beyond but Snivy didn't want to bet on what would be on the other side.

"There must be another way in, come on let's keep going." He and Parasect picked up speed again and they began to hasten down the passage ever faster away from the door they'd just listened in to, Eventually they reached another series of wooden doors, one of which didn't have any light leaking out around the edges.

"This one?" Parasect gestured at it with his claws

"I guess so…" Snivy felt suddenly nervous. Who knew what was on the other side of that door? Parasect walked up to the door and tested it with his claws.

"It's locked." He informed Snivy, "It's just wood though, stand back. I don't think they expected anyone to find this place so it shouldn't be too difficult to…" He swung both claws viciously downwards and slashed at the door. Both his pincers cut deep gashes into the wood of the door. Snivy looked around him but the passageway remained deserted, clearly no one else had heard the noise. Parasect waited a second then seemed to come to the same conclusion and slashed at the door for a second time. This was enough to break through the wood and knock the door inwards off its hinges so that it fell into the room and broke into pieces.

The room was an immediate contrast to the mine they were in. For a start it had a white tiled floor and steel walls. There were a number of boxes stacked up in there but little else. Snivy and Parasect edged nervously inside and Parasect pushed the ruined door to the left with one claw.

"To think no one knew this was here…" Parasect glanced around, "Right under our feet…" Snivy checked the room was empty before walking up to one of the boxes and peering inside.

"Empty?" this confused him, why were these boxes stacked up in here empty?

"This one's not…" Parasect had sliced open the top of one of the other boxes with one of his serrated pincers, "In fact…what is this?" Snivy hopped down from the boxes and crossed the room to join him. What he saw made him stop in bemusement. The box was full of posters, the posters all depicted the same Pokémon, a small pale pink cat like Pokémon with large violet eyes and a jewel set into the centre of her head

"Who's that?"

"Idol Espeon." Parasect told him, "She's a Sinnoh supermodel and celebrity…what's a box of posters of her doing down here?"

"Maybe the Metagross are fans?" Snivy suggested vaguely

"Enough to explain this many boxes?" Parasect split open another box causing another cascade of posters to spill onto the floor.

"This doesn't make sense…" Snivy picked up the posters and looked at them; they weren't very exciting to look at, just your typical magazine cover type poster. Parasect looked as confused as he did. He turned over the poster as though examining it for a hidden message but the back was blank.

"We can't hang around here…" Parasect told him, "There's clearly nothing else in here."

"Should we keep one?" Snivy asked, "To show someone?" Parasect snorted at this

"You can buy one of these almost anywhere you want for about three Poke dollars…" Parasect waved his hand vaguely, "They're not difficult to get hold of if for some reason you wanted one. There's a door here, come on…" Parasect had shoved some of the boxes aside to reveal a door leading out into the HQ and leant on it gently. It clicked and opened outwards. The corridor beyond was also dark and lifeless and the two Pokémon nervously emerged into it.

"Now what?" Parasect asked, "We're clearly in some kind of storage area, which is why there is no one around."

"Lets walk this way, come on!" Snivy began down the corridor back the way they'd come in the other passage. They walked past other wooden doors, a couple were open exposing other rooms full of boxes empty of Metagross until they reached a large metal door set into the tiling which inhibited their progress any further down the corridor.

"There are going to be Metagross through here." Parasect said flatly, "If we're going through we'd have to fight. I don't fancy fighting Metagross. That other voice we heard, do you reckon that's their leader?"

"No." Snivy shook his head, "I heard their leader and she didn't sound like…" but he stopped abruptly at the sound of beeping on the other side of the metal door, "Hide!" The two dived for cover into the nearest open store room as the metal door parted and slid open. Through a gap between the crates, wood of the door and sealed hall next to them Snivy could tell immediately that Parasect had been right. There were at least a dozen Metagross filing from the brightly lit room beyond into the corridor they were in.

"We need this whole area cleared of everything, that includes tiles, any tiles left break them, this place needs to look like a ruin." The leading Metagross instructed them, "I want the first three of you to take the first room, the next three to take the second and so forth. You've got half an hour. After we've finished that we head back to command and then back to the end chamber to remove subject 2."

"Yes sir." The Metagross began to file out the lift and split up.

"Oh no…" Parasect murmured. The two ducked even further behind the crates as they heard three enormous Metagross enter the room. Snivy knew they weren't going to be safe for long. If the Metagross were emptying the room they'd definitely find them and even if they didn't they hadn't exactly tidied up after them in the poster room. Snivy held his breath as the Metagross began shifting piles on the other side of the room, trying to conceal himself behind Parasect's fungus in the narrow space.

"Hey Zazirak, check out this…" one of the Metagross called, "Someone didn't stack these well…" Through a gap, Snivy felt suddenly terrified as the Metagross began to stalk closer across the room towards them. Parasect silently pulled back his claws, if it came to it then he would fight. But just as the Metagross reached the pile there was a cry from down the corridor

"All teams we have a serious situation in room fifteen, I repeat we have a serious situation in room fifteen!"

"Come on!" the Metagross all turned at once and piled out the room. Clanking off down the corridor at high speed in the direction of the poster room.

"It's now or never come on let's get out of here." Parasect grabbed Snivy in his claws and clambered over the boxes, his feet clattering on the tiled floor as he hurried back into the corridor

"We need to get right to the end chamber!" Snivy gasped at him as Parasect stopped and looked around wildly, "That's where they're keeping subject 2! I bet that's Empoleon, come on!"

"You've mental!" Parasect snapped at him,

"We can't go back through the poster room, they'll all be in there by now, they'll let the others know we're here any time now!" Snivy told him, "We've still got time, they'll have to leave the poster room but until then they're all in one place. It's a chance!"

"I swear I'll kill you if they don't." snarled Parasect, skidding a little of the tiles as he changed direction and began to sprint back down the corridor in the direction of the poster room again. Parasect didn't slow as they approached the room, god only knew how many Metagross were in that chamber but Parasect didn't seem fazed this time. As they neared the doorway, he jumped into the air and slid on the tiled floor so his feet made no noise. They slid past the open doorway, the whole chamber and the corridor beyond were full of Metagross but none of them were looking back in their direction. Once they were safely past the door Parasect continued to run, further and further down the corridor until the tiled floor disappeared and the steel walls once again became rock. They had reached another large steel door.

"How are we going to…" but Parasect pulled his claws forward and smashed the glass on the control screen, using the serrated edges of his claws to cut as many wires as he could on the control screen

"Come on!" Parasect groaned at the door and eventually it slid sideward with a faint hissing noise. The door was almost fifteen inches thick solid metal, there was no way any normal Pokémon could batter their way out from the inside. Snivy and Parasect shoved into the room and found a Pokémon sat there looking petrified.

But it wasn't Empoleon.

It was Prince.

"Snivy?" Prince looked as though he couldn't believe what he was seeing, staggering upright. He was terrifyingly weak and looked as though he hadn't eaten for days, "Snivy!"

"Prince!" Snivy darted forwards to help support the Prinplup as he tried to hurry forwards

"We've got to get out of here!" Parasect said fiercely, "Come on!" Snivy pulled Prince from the chamber back into the corridor, "There's another door here, but they'll probably have done a lock down on the elevator by now we won't be able to get out that way!"

"Anywhere, break down the door let's move!"

"I can't outrun a Metagross!"

"We can't stay here!"

"How did you find…"

"Later Prince!" Snivy insisted, "But the Metagross know there's someone here who shouldn't be it's only a matter of time before they come this way!"

"Fine! Fine!" Parasect charged the door with his claws outdrawn and smashed straight through it, exposing the rock corridor of the mine again as he did so. The three Pokémon piled out into the torch lit corridor again and began to run in the opposite direction of the lift, desperate to put as much ground as possible between themselves and the Metagross. Prince was panting heavily and struggling to run, moving from adrenaline more than anything else, he was clearly utterly exhausted and starved. Snivy had no idea where they were going, they had run so far they had left the flaming torches behind them and it was now pitch black and utterly dark as they threw themselves forwards. There were suddenly clanking sounds behind them, the Metagross were coming after them, they must have heard their footsteps coming up the passage and now at least a dozen of the Pokémon were following, huge footfalls echoed up the passage towards them. Snivy felt utterly certain that they were going to be caught, but he was certain that for a while now the passageway had been sloping upwards, they were returning to ground level and now he could make out Parasect's silhouette, it was becoming a little lighter, they were almost out by now surely!

Then suddenly they were in a cave. The rock passageway widened and Snivy found himself no longer hurtling along a straight upward slope but around boulders and stalactites as they emerged into a large cave with a high ceiling chasing Parasect as fast as he could still praying Prince's and his own energy would hold. There was a horrible smashing sound behind them, one of the Metagross had evidently just smashed their way through one of the Stalactites in pursuit. That meant they were gaining.

"I know where we are!" Parasect suddenly exclaimed, glancing around wildly, "This way!" he changed direction left and Snivy found himself running into a side chamber alongside an underground lake, the cave was very damp and musty and Snivy finally found that he could see other Pokémon, Zubat were hanging in eaves along the ceiling looking down at them curiously. The clanking sounds were drawing further away now, maybe the Metagross were hesitant to be seen by Pokémon, but the three of them didn't slow, the danger wasn't over yet. Parasect pulled them around the corner into a slightly more open chamber and now Snivy found he knew where they were too…they were in the rock chamber where they had first met Commander Crobat, they were almost back at Floaroma town. Parasect turned south, slowing for the first time and Snivy saw the exit to the cave lying dead ahead and but on one last burst of speed to erupt out of it into the tall grass and the daylight, disturbing a large flock of Starly and a group of Kricketot which were lazily frolicking around. Snivy's legs gave out and he collapsed to the ground in a heap, desperately out of breath and fanning his tail wide to catch as much of the remaining sunlight as he could. They couldn't have been in the HQ longer than half an hour but it felt like an eternity. The light was definitely starting to fail now and it was becoming very dusky and red in the sky. Behind him, Snivy saw Prince fall to his knees and Parasect's legs crumple as the two of them joined him in a tangled heap on the floor, desperately out of breath and struggling to remain conscious after expending so much energy.

"I know I'm wanted by the ghost forces…" Parasect murmured, "But we need a Pokémon centre, all there of us, we need rest." Snivy couldn't have agreed more. Shaking worse than he'd ever done in his life, he pulled himself upright and helped Prince up. He was still amazed to see the Prinplup, and wanted to question him as to how on earth he'd ended up in the captivity of the Metagross and why…but knew perfectly well he was in no fit state to talk. The three of them shared exhausted looks and began to troop back into Jubilife city to find a Pokémon centre, attracting nothing more than a few looks of mild curiosity from passing by carefree Shinx.