Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon!

CHAPTER 25

"What the hell is going on here?" A grunt yelled as another loud explosion shook the passage.

"Those intruders have started rampaging around." Another grunt shouted back. "They are unstoppable!"

"What do you mean unstoppable?" A third asked.

"They are using their strongest pokémon and are attacking everyone who stands in their way with powerful attacks! All of their attacks are knocking our pokémon out in one hit!"

"Let's go stop them!" A fourth voice was heard from around the corner. A grunt soon appeared there and he ran towards them. "They are in 5th division, 2nd passage to the right. It seems they are on their way to the 9th division, where we keep all our prisoners."

"What are they heading there for?" The first one asked, as all four of them started running.

"We have captured a couple of their associates – that brunette and that old man Oak." The second grunt replied. "They must be going for them."

"Don't they know that their friends are not here?" The third grunt asked.

"Of course they don't! That's why they are heading there!"

"Well then, let's go to the headquarters." The first stated. "We'll have most of us inside there as lines of defense against their onslaught. A few can remain here and capture them inside the 9th division, since it is completely separate from the rest of the areas."

"That's a good idea!" The second grunt said, and quickly relayed the plan to everyone in his vicinity through the Holo Caster he had in his pocket.

"We'll confine them in the 9th division." The third grunt said, as they made their way to the 9th division.

"Infernape, use Flare Blitz!" Ash ordered.

Infernape jumped, covered himself in blue-colored flames and shot at a bunch of grunts like a missile. The whole bunch of grunts – which consisted of a dozen – was thrown back with the sheer force that Infernape casted on them.

"Good job!" Ash said.

He, along with Serena, Dawn and Brock, had gotten May's message and had took her word at its face value. They had started wrecking havoc as they went away from the room where Mewtwo was kept, hoping that they pulled all the grunts away from the room. May had told them what they were planning, so they hoped that this destruction would pull everyone away from the room.

I hope they have also thought of a backup plan. Brock thought, noticing their pokémon's loud panting. Or this plan might just backfire.

It seemed like Dawn and Serena had picked up on their pokémon's weariness as well, for they glanced at Brock with a look of concern on their faces. Just as Dawn thought of mention this to Ash, they noticed another batch of grunts running towards them.

"Sylveon, use Fairy Wind!" Serena ordered.

Sylveon, not wasting any time on dance moves, pulled her feelers together, and then charged with them, sending a strong gust of wind. The gust was strong enough to knock the grunts off their feet. Taking advantage of the situation, the group charged through, leaving the grunts sprawled on the ground.

"Let's go!" Ash yelled.

"Yeah!" Everyone cheered. If this was how 'strong' the grunts were, they were pretty sure they would be easily able to reach their destination without much fatigue.

Something doesn't seem right though. Brock thought uneasily. We have been easily able to knock them all out. But Rocket grunts usually are stronger than that. Are we running towards a trap?

Nevertheless, he didn't say anything and continued running. The four soon saw a T-intersection as they ran towards it.

"Serena!" Ash said, looking at the performer.

Serena nodded. "To the right!"

Following her instruction, the group turned right and was greeted by…

An empty passage?! Brock thought surprised. I thought they would try to stop us and there would be even more grunts than we faced. This is really suspicious.

He slowed down his pace, running the gears of his brain. Noticing the change in his pace, the others slowed down as well.

"Is something wrong, Brock?" Ash asked impatiently. Apparently, he hadn't noticed what Brock had.

"Didn't you notice?" Brock asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"What?"

"There are no grunts here!" Dawn said, exasperated at Ash's ignorance.

"So what? Isn't that great?" Ash asked, shrugging. He still hadn't grasped the situation.

"No." Serena said thoughtfully. "I think Brock means to say that there should be more grunts here if Delia and Professor Oak are being kept here. Isn't that right, Brock?"

"Yeah," Brock said thoughtfully. "I think there's a huge possibility that they have already been moved."

"But it's still a possibility, isn't it?" Ash asked. "We won't know for sure unless we go and check."

"I suppose you have got a point there." Dawn said. "But that is quite farfetched. The chances are they are just leading us into a trap."

"And to be caught in a trap right now," Serena said, shaking her head. "That would be completely foolish."

Ash sighed. "I would have liked to check, but I guess that's not possible for the time being. What do you think we should do?"

Just as he asked the question, they heard a buzz coming from the passage they had just come through. The four readied themselves as they waited to see who arrived. The buzz neither reduced in volume nor increased. After a bit, they heard a small clank.

The four exchanged glances and then, slowly started walking towards the source of the noise. They went ahead a bit and were greeted by a horrifying sight. Their escape – the only passage they knew of – was cut off. Instead of the T-intersection, there was just a metal wall.

I have a really bad feeling about this. Ash thought, as he went up to the wall. He noticed that instead of cracks that he had found quite a lot of times when opening hidden doors, the wall was completely smooth – not only the one that blocked off their escape, but also the walls of the passage.

I should have known. Ash thought grimly. He turned towards the others, who had questioning looks on their faces. "Looks like we are stuck here for now."

"What do you mean?" Serena asked. "There's sure to be another escape route out of here – like the hidden ones we have found, right?"

"I doubt that." Ash sighed. "The walls are completely smooth. This wall must be an extra wall that can be controlled from the headquarters – to prevent their prisoners from escaping."

"What have hidden doors and walls got to do with each other?" Dawn asked, confused.

"You see," Ash started, "if you noticed, the walls of the passages are fitted with panels with a small gap in every two of them. Near a hidden door, inside the crack, there's either a small bump, or a smaller crack inside that acts as a switch to open and close the door."

"I see." Dawn nodded.

"But here," Ash said, motioning towards the door that blocked off their escape. "The walls are completely smooth, unlike the panels in the rest of the passages. Even the door itself doesn't have a crack or anything."

"And you mean to say," Serena started slowly, putting the pieces together. "You mean to say that Team Rocket has been keeping an eye on us all the time until now, right? To make sure that we fall into this trap. They must have already closed off other escape routes."

"It's bad." Brock muttered, staring at the wall-like door.

"Can't we just break it down?" Dawn asked.

"Of course we can't!" Ash retorted. "The wall is thicker than the normal walls you had seen. Besides, do you think I would have just been sitting here if I could break this wall?"

"Okay…" Dawn said, dragging out the 'kay'. "Maybe there's another way."

Suddenly, they heard static coming over the intercom that was hidden in all the passages. Soon, the static faded away as a familiar voice spoke.

"I hear you are in quite a situation, Ketchum."

"What is it that you want with me so bad?" Ash asked.

"Well, don't worry!" Giovanni's voice continued, as if he didn't hear Ash. Apparently, it was a one-way intercom. "You are stuck in a hundred-meter long branch of a passage. And at one of its end, I am going to release water that will no doubt fill up the whole corridor."

There was a pause as Giovanni snickered evilly. Dawn and Serena had horrified expressions on their faces. Brock and Ash didn't show it but they were concerned – mostly for the girls' safety.

"And at the other end, where you are standing," he continued, as they suddenly heard a gas leaking into the passage just behind them. "The gas is nothing but sleeping powder. The cameras here are watching you. Let's see what you choose – sleep and drown a peaceful death, or suffocate yourself inside the water to death."

The intercom again buzzed with static, and then died down completely, leaving the four to their own devices.

"Are you… are you kidding me?!" Dawn finally burst out, after a moment of silence. "This is straight murder!"

She sank down on her knees, as did Serena.

"At least, let's move away from the wall for the time being." Brock said shakily. "Or we might just end up going to sleep."

Following his advice, the four slowly walked away from the wall a bit. Their pokémon seemed to have lost all the strength to fight, having let their fatigue take over them. The four returned all their pokémon back to their pokéballs, and sat down.

Brock started analyzing their situation, but couldn't think a way to get out of there. He couldn't believe how dangerous the organization had become – the same organization they would have laughed at if they were told about this a couple of years ago. Maybe, just maybe, there was a way to get out of there.

"Hey, Brock," Ash said calmly, surprising the other three. They wondered how he could remain calm in such a situation. "Do you know someone who might be inside in this maze, right now?"

As soon as he asked that, a light bulb flicked on in the others' heads.

"Of course! Jessie, James and Meowth are still inside!" The three exclaimed together.

"But they are lost!" Dawn continued, earning a sigh from Brock and Serena.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to Serena. "Wait, they wouldn't be lost, would they? We told them how to check the map and get out of the maze, right?"

"Yeah, so they must be outside now." Dawn sighed.

"It wouldn't hurt to try." Ash said, after a bit of thought.

"I guess so." Brock said, and pulled out the Holo Caster he had with him. He selected James' name and waited as the ring echoed throughout the corridor. Ten rings later, James picked it up.

The four looked at the hologram, shocked. James looked completely beat up. There was blood running from an injury on his forehead. His clothes were completely torn, revealing his wounded skin. He had a huge injury that stretched across his forearm and quite a lot of blood oozed from it. Even his hair was cut up unevenly. He himself looked dirty with dirt sticking to his face and body.

"What happened, James?" Brock asked, the shock evident in his voice. Being a doctor, he knew that James needed immediate treatment. "Where are you?"

James had been sitting with his back to some wall, panting hard. He slowly looked at them although it was evident he was in pain.

"Don't move, or you will lose even more blood!" Brock yelled at him. Taking his advice, James stopped moving.

"Brock, is that you?" He asked hoarsely.

"Yeah, what happened? Where are you?" Brock asked again. It was evident to him that even speaking was painful for him, but he needed to know where James was, so that he could take care of him quickly.

"Help me, Brock." James continued with his hoarse voice. "They almost… killed us… Jessie and Meowth… are with them… captive… I am… outside. Please… quick!"

As soon as he finished, he crumpled up in a heap, leaving the Holo Caster on. Serena cut off the call. The four exchanged shocked glances.

Ash hit his knee with a fist. "They are crossing the limit now."

"We'll have to get out of here somehow." Dawn stated shakily. Their current situation looked really hopeless.

Ash got up and started walking away from the wall. "Let's get going."

"Where are you going, Ash?" Brock called after him.

"The sleeping powder will reach us soon." He stated, looking back at his companions. "We won't be able to do anything here. If there's a chance of us getting out, it will be at the point where the water is filling."

Nodding, the other three got up and walked up to him.

"And look!" Ash said, pointing ahead of them, as the three came beside him. "The water has already started filling in!"

True to his word, they could see a bit of water, coming up to them.

"Considering the fact that this passage is flat, the water will take quite a lot of time to fill up to the top." Brock said thoughtfully. "So we must have around six hours to find a way out here."

"We can't be sure though, Brock." Dawn said, as they started walking towards the water. "We don't even know just how fast the water is leaking in. Giovanni said this part was a hundred meter long, and yet, in just around ten minutes, the water has already reached the other end. I don't think we have as much as time as we think."

"Anyway, let's keep going." Ash said. "We can't give up without a fight."

"We can't give up at all." Serena corrected him. The other three smiled at her conviction.

Soon, they reached the end of the passage, and just like Giovanni had said, there was a wall, blocking their way out. The water was gushing in through the crack at the top of the door that blocked them. The crack was large enough for their hand to fit through horizontally. The speed with which the water poured in was increasing continuously. It had been only fifteen minutes or so, since the water started pouring in, so it hadn't even reached up to their ankles. But the continuous increase in flow left them with no doubt that if they didn't do something soon, they would end up drowning.

"So, what do we do?" Dawn asked, turning towards Ash, since it had been his idea in the first place.

Ash stared at the crack thoughtfully, as the other three waited for him to speak. He finally turned towards them as they looked on expectantly.

"I don't know."

The girls fell down animé-style and Brock sweat-dropped.

"You don't know?!" Dawn exclaimed. "Why did you bring us here for?"

"I thought it better to try to think of a solution after we actually see the problem." Ash replied, shrugging his shoulders.

The three sighed. They should have expected it. Nonetheless, they decided not to waste anymore time, and started thinking of a way to escape from their deadly situation.

"You are kidding, right?" Professor Oak asked, horrified. Delia was too shocked to say anything.

Giovanni turned back at them. They were in the office, from where Giovanni had threatened Ash and his group about their death. They could see on the screens that Ash and his group were trapped inside that hundred-meter long passage with no hope to escape.

Giovanni snickered at their horrified expressions. With a quick flick, he changed the cameras on the screen, and showed them – much to their shock – that the water was pouring in the particular passage. They could even see Ash and the others standing in front of the crack, staring at it as water kept on gushing inside.

"Why the hell are you doing this?" Delia yelled at him, tears pouring down from her eyes. She never wished for all of this to happen. Why fate was playing such a cruel game she didn't know, but right now, she certainly wished she could stop the crazy boss.

"I wasn't going to do this." The boss started with a sadistic grin on his face. "But, now that I have found out about those stone tablets, I don't need anyone – especially someone, who is just going to be a huge obstacle in my path."

Cackling madly, he left Delia and Professor Oak alone, leaving the cameras on for them to see their precious kid dying.

Delia kept on sobbing quietly, trying to hold it in. But what had happened so far, and knowing the fact that she would see her child for the last time, sent her over the edge. She couldn't stop herself from crying.

Professor Oak was sad, but he didn't cry, wanting to remain strong for the woman who loved Ash more than anyone else in the world.

"Don't cry, Delia." He said softly.

Hearing him, she turned towards him, still sobbing. "How do you expect me to not cry when my boy is on the verge of death?"

"I know that." Professor Oak, said, then sighed. "But do you think crying is going to help him? Right now, it is only us that know how to stop the gushing water and how to open those doors. You did see what Giovanni did right now, right?"

Delia slowly calmed herself down, knowing the old professor's words made the most sense. It was true that she was distressed that her boy could die right now, but it was only them right now who had a chance to stop it from happening.

"Look there." Professor Oak said, noticing that she had stopped sobbing.

Following his line of sight, Delia saw that he was looking at a timer that showed how much time was remaining for the whole passage to fill with water. The timer was counting down right now at 2:41 with the dots in the middle blinking once every second.

"We have at least two and a half hours to get rid of these chains and stop the water." Professor Oak stated. He then turned towards Delia, who still had smudges on her face, and continued. "Do you have an idea where the keys to open these chains could be?"

Delia looked thoughtful as she tried to recall if she had seen the key anywhere or not. After a while, she shook her head, indicating she didn't remember or recall anything like that. Professor Oak sighed. He had feared that.

He looked around the office. There weren't many things there. A few computer screens to keep an eye on everything, a desk and a huge window was all that was there in the office. Even the desk didn't have any drawer, so there was no chance for them to find a key – unless someone walked in and forgot his key.

Suddenly, the whole office shook and Professor Oak and Delia felt the floor move.

"What in the world…?"

They couldn't believe that the room was actually moving. Even though it wasn't possible to see it for themselves, they could easily feel the movement. They glanced at each other wide-eyed. What was happening around them?

Suddenly, the room stopped. For a moment, the two couldn't understand what was happening. Then suddenly, the room gave a jolt. Professor Oak, who had his back to the desk, rammed into the desk thanks to the sudden jolt. He hit his head hard on the side of the desk and closed his eyes, trying to lessen the impact. He suddenly heard a clink and slowly opened his eyes.

His jaw dropped when he saw what had fallen into his lap. It was a set of keys! He didn't know how they had appeared, nor did he care. This was the only time, he knew, they would get to free themselves.

"Delia!" He called her urgently. His urgent voice got her attention.

"What?" She asked. She noticed the set of keys almost immediately after and brightened up. Maybe now they would have a chance to help Ash.

Without needing to be told, she went up to the professor and took hold of the keys. With their back to each other, Delia started trying keys one after the other to see which one fit in. After five unsuccessful tries, the sixth key opened up the chains binding the professor.

"Great!"

The chain slipped from his wrists. Professor Oak started rubbing his wrists to get the blood flowing again and after a bit, released Delia as well. The two got up quickly and went up to the computer to check the timer. The timer showed 0:30.

"Thirty minutes?!" Delia exclaimed. "Wasn't it at 2:41?"

"I think the timer keeps on changing according to the speed of the flow of water." Professor Oak said grimly, after a bit of thought. "That means even if it shows half an hour, there is a huge possibility that Ash and the others have even less than fifteen minutes."

"But what are they doing now?" Delia asked. The screen that showed what happened to Ash was blank. It meant two things: either the camera was broken or the water had already reached to the level of the camera – which was at the top of the passage. She shuddered, and hoped that it was the former.

Suddenly, just like a few minutes ago, the room gave another shudder and then with a series of jolts started rising. The jolts came so frequently – they knocked the two off their feet. The two decided to wait for the jolts to stop before standing on their feet again. Both of their expressions showed that they had no idea what had happened.

With no camera to show them what had happened to Ash, Professor Oak just flicked the switch, hoping that Ash was still alive. Instead of stopping the timer, the timer changed from 0:30 to 0:20. Both of them were horrified.

Thinking that the switch worked the other way, Delia was about to flick it when Professor Oak stopped her.

"Don't!" He warned. "I think he has rigged it so that instead of stopping the water, it would increase its flow. The timer just shows that."

"Then what are we going to do?" Delia asked terrified.

"We'll have to leave right now." Professor Oak replied. "We'll have to go down ourselves and try to open the door from there. There's bound to be some kind of emergency switch or something. Let's go find it!"

Nodding, Delia followed Professor Oak, hoping that Ash and the others were safe.

"Alright, are you both ready?" Misty asked.

Max and Bonnie nodded. They had waited quite a lot of time to let those seven trainers inside wreck havoc, and now, the time seemed right. The two hadn't changed considering that they didn't have any spare on hand.

"Alright, go ahead." Cilan said, as Trip and Paul readied themselves at the edge of the hole. Clemont was at the side, ready to use his Aipom Arm if necessary.

The two kids jumped inside together. Like Ash had said, the hole was large enough to fit both of them together with Mewtwo. They had just about enough space to maneuver themselves. The bluish liquid had looked dense from outside – as Clemont stated, testing it – but now that they were really inside, they understood what Clemont exactly meant. The liquid stung to their eyes a lot.

It was strange. They were trying to go down inside the tube, but the liquid was pushing them back above. Other than that, dense as it was, it was strangely transparent and only stung their eyes – nothing more. It was real trouble trying to hold their breath down there, because of the amount of pressure it put on their lungs. But even though it was troublesome, the kids wanted to help Mewtwo, and so had already steeled themselves to go through any hardship necessary – not only to free Mewtwo but also take down Team Rocket. Besides, it gave them a kind of exhilaration that both of them had usually experienced while watching an exciting battle. They didn't understand it completely, but it was exciting to them all the same.

Just as they reached the bottom of the tube, there was a sudden jolt. It was so unexpected; both the kids ended up releasing all their breath right inside the tube and ended up swallowing quite a bit of that horrid-smelling liquid. They knew they didn't have much time, so they made a beeline for the hole above.

The others above had noticed the sudden jolt and had also seen them both release their breaths, so they were ready. As soon as their heads popped out, they pulled them out. Once outside, both Max and Bonnie started throwing up. It continued for quite a while, before Max, and then, Bonnie lied down on the cool grass, exhausted.

"What happened?" May asked, scrunching up her nose a bit. The liquid had a really horrid smell when she had smelled it during Clemont's experiment. Now that the two kids were completely covered with it from head to toe, she couldn't even bear the smell anymore. She wondered how the kids could bear it, covered like that.

Max got up and spat out some of the bluish liquid. "I ended up swallowing quite a lot of it."

"Me too," Bonnie added, still lying down, panting. "Never tasted something so horrible."

"What?!" Clemont exclaimed. "You ended up drinking it?!"

"Is that bad?" Iris asked, though she already had an idea.

"I don't know." Clemont said with a sigh. "I experimented with it but it is something new and different altogether. I have never seen a compound like that."

"Well, it knocks out pokémon." Cilan said. "So, it is possible that it has the same effect on humans."

"I doubt it." Clemont replied at once. "If it had the same effect, Max and Bonnie, both would have been knocked out as soon as their body came in contact with it – the same way as Mewtwo and the other pokémon. The fact that they didn't means there are some unknown effects to this particular compound. I don't know what they are, because I have never seen a compound like that before."

"But I have never heard of a chemical that has different effects on humans and pokémon." Misty said, confused. "How is that possible?"

"Exactly!" Clemont said, adjusting his glasses. "That was the exact reason why I was reluctant to let them go inside."

"I am ready, guys." Max finally said, getting up and gaining their attention. "We will be able to do it this time."

Bonnie nodded, getting up as well. It seemed like they were back to normal, but something seemed different about them. Although still reluctant, Clemont nodded.

The two kids went up to the hole and looked at Trip and Paul, who nodded. With a deep breath, the two jumped inside again. This time, they were able to hold their breaths longer as they quickly made their way below. Their eyes had gotten used to the dense liquid as well, as they didn't feel the liquid stinging them.

Once below, Bonnie, who could see directly above, nodded at Trip and Paul, who gave a thumbs-up. Turning towards Max, she nodded again. The two put their hands below Mewtwo's legs and with a nod, pushed against them.

Because the liquid was really dense, it was rather easy to push Mewtwo upwards, considering the weight of the heavy pokémon. They managed to push him almost a foot, before they felt Trip and Paul tugging on it. With another nod, they pushed against the unbreakable glass. The shove was enough to get Mewtwo's head out of the fluid.

As soon as the psychic-type's head came out, Paul and Trip caught it but it slipped through their hands almost immediately. Mewtwo went down again, surprising the kids below. Wondering what had happened, they quickly swam back up and popped their heads out.

"What happened?" Max asked, as the two rubbed their eyes to get rid of the liquid.

"That liquid is too greasy." Trip said. "We couldn't even get a good grip before he slipped out of our hands."

"If that's the case," Gary said thoughtfully. "I know! Max and Bonnie will move Mewtwo's hands above his head, and push him out again. You guys can hold his hands and pull him out."

"How does it help us?" Trip asked mockingly. "His hands are going to be just as slippery."

Gary sighed. "Apply some sand or dirt to your hands if you could. That should give you enough grip."

Trip shrugged. "Fine."

He and Paul went near the rock near them, and rubbed their hands over it. The rock was made of sand, which was a good thing. As they turned back, making sure their hands were full of sand, Max and Bonnie dived again. Going along with their plan, Max and Bonnie, each took hold of his hands and pushed them up over his head. Then, the two went below, and waited for the thumbs-up to continue.

As soon as they got the signal, they pushed again. This time within half a foot, Trip and Paul had their hands on each of Mewtwo's hands. The kids pushed against the glass, as Trip and Paul pulled with all their might. Mewtwo was already halfway out but they could feel their grip slipping.

"Hey Clemont, use that Aipom Arm of yours and help us! Quick!" Trip said, moving his hands to get a better grip on the psychic-type.

When inside the liquid, the density of the liquid itself supported the heavy weight of Mewtwo. But now that they were pulling him outside, they finally understood how heavy the pokémon really was.

Finally after another bit of struggle, they finally pulled out the legendary psychic-type out of the tube. Their job done, Max and Bonnie came out of the tube as well, with the help of Misty and Iris. May had already receded to the farthest corner of the clearing to avoid the horrible smell of the liquid. She still couldn't understand how the rest of them were even able to bear it.

Suddenly, they heard a huge noise, and to their shock, the sandy rock started moving. Not wanting to take any risk, everyone quickly disappeared inside the surrounding bushes, pulling Mewtwo with them, and stared as the rock split into two, revealing a huge hole below it. They gaped as they saw a whole building rising from the hole. The building had three stories and it came out and fixed itself in its place like a pieces of a puzzle.

"What in the world…?"

They were slightly dazed, but managed to get out of it.

"Hey, look at it guys!" Gary exclaimed, pointing at the sign on the top of the building. The others followed his gaze and saw a very, very familiar sign.

It was the sign of Team Rocket!

"I think we just found the Team Rocket headquarters!"

And finally, they have found the headquarters! Ash and Co. has only around 20 minutes to escape - meaning the water has already filled up to their chest level. Delia and Professor Oak have managed to escape from the office. Team Rocket has started taking drastic measures to stop this group of trainers who has always been an obstacle in their path. And what happened to the old TRio?

So, quite a lot of things have happened in this chapter. Actually, I ended up writing this chapter in one sitting, so there might be some mistakes that I could have missed. Hopefully, this chapter is as good as it seems.

Anyways, have a good day!