Chapter Seventeen: The Plan

"Well, now how do I get this thing off…?" Gloria thought aloud. She started to try tugging again, when Squirtle sprayed her in the face! "Hey!! What the-?!" She yelled, startled. Then she realized the web was coming loose. "Hey, it loosened! Do it one more time will 'ya?" Squirtle squirted Gloria again and this time the net just fell off just as the surprised Pikachu pulled herself off.

Further down the tunnel, Mew watched. It was surprised at the teamwork of the Pokémon-girl's companions. It wondered if this was what it was like to be "friends". "Perhaps," It wondered drifting a little closer cautiously, "I can be a 'friend' too someday…"

"Phew… Thanks, Squirtle." Gloria said as she stretched out her arms. "My arms had begun to cramp up like that."

"Now I see why Spinaraks don't like water." Michael commented. "The water makes their webs lose their stickiness."

"I'm curious as to what's further down this tunnel." Julie said. She seemed excited to be playing spelunker again. "What's so important that someone needed a Spinarak to guard it?"

"Good point." Joshua replied. "This time, we'll keep an eye out for cave-dwellers. We don't want another incident again, right Gloria?"

"Right." Gloria said with a grimace. " I'll tell you right now, that was not a very pleasant experience."

"Let's move it along." Michael said. "This place is a definite 9.0 on the Creepy Scale."

Gloria smiled. "Interesting way of putting it, but I get the idea. Let's get going." As the quartet continued their journey down the tunnel, they never even considered the fact that Mew was silently following their progress.

"Oh my goodness… Look." Gloria said softly. It was suddenly obvious what that Spinarak was doing. It was protecting its nest, for there were several eggs lying around the tunnel.

"Eggs…" Said Joshua. "I always knew Spinaraks were protective, but this confirms it. No wonder it attacked! It was only defending its nest from us 'intruders', and it assumed we were going to raid its nest."

"We shouldn't hang around here long… They may come back any minute now!" Julie reminded.

Later…

"Well, now this is weird!" Gloria commented, looking at a platform of packed earth standing six feet tall in front of her.

"Even weirder yet, look up." Julie said, a surprised look on her face. Gloria looked up and saw a trapdoor about four feet above the platform.

"Okay, now this is bizarre." Joshua exclaimed, staring at the trapdoor. "Why would there be a trapdoor here of all places?"

"…I think I can jump up there, but can any of you make it up?" Gloria asked. Everyone shook his or her heads "no". "Okay, we'll do this the hard way." Gloria fully extended her tail so it dragged about two feet on the ground. "One of you, grab my tail!"

"I can't do that!" Michael said. "It'll hurt you and I doubt you'll be able to-"

"Michael, you have no idea how strong this tail is." Gloria replied. " I once and only once pulled a Snorlax down from a tree with it."

"No kidding?!?" Julie inquired.

"No kidding. But it was once and I was sore for a week. C'mon, let's go already!" Gloria was already crouching on the ground. Joshua reluctantly grabbed hold of Gloria's tail. "Hang on! It's gonna' be a little rough!" Amazingly, she leapt off the ground, grabbed the edge of the platform and pulled herself and a startled Joshua up onto it. "See? I told 'ya!" She hopped down. "What's wrong, Josh? It's okay. You're just fine." Joshua looked as shocked as if he'd been zapped by Pikachu. "Now the rest of you."

At Route 3…

"Ahem. Excuse me little girl…" Janett said tapping Lucy on the shoulder.

"Huh?! Don't you know the rules around these parts?!" She yelled, placing her hands on her hips haughtily. "Pay the cash, or pay the price!!"

"Here, this should cover it." Janett put a few bills in Lucy's hand. She stared at it then pocketed it promptly. "What d' 'ya want?" She said, rolling her eyes as if she had better things to do.

"We're looking for some people." Janett replied. Lucy yawned and turned away.

"They're a bunch of kids but they pose a threat to our purpose." Daniel said producing a rough sketch. He handed the sketch to Lucy. "This is a sketch of them. Do you recognize any of them or their Pokémon?"

"…Why…they're the bums who got away on that weird bird!" Lucy snatched the doodle. "I'd know those punks anywhere!"

"So you do recognize them." Janett said, pleased her plan was going to work even better. "If you can somehow capture them, we will be very grateful."

Lucy looked up form the drawing. "What's in it for me?" She asked.

"We'll give you this." Daniel said pulling a sack out of his pocket. Lucy looked inside it then stepped back, a look of extreme surprise on her face.

"What do you say?" Asked Daniel, taking the sack back. "Deal or no deal?"

"Consider it done!" Lucy replied eagerly with a salute. "As a proud member of the Dragon Clan, I shall uphold our reputation for a high rate of success in our missions!" She mumbled an order to the gang behind her ran down the path.

"That worked out rather well." Daniel commented pulling off his fake mustache. "And to think I didn't believe you at first."

Janett grinned proudly and took off her wig. "See? I told you I was good with disguises and plan-making!