Down the hall from his cell, Tom could hear another prisoner getting violently ill. The sounds and smells that were drifting towards Tom's cell wanted to make Tom vomit too. The other prisoners near the ill man's cell were shouting stuff like, "Hey! This man is seriously ill!" and "Could we get a nurse or some one over here to help this man before he pukes his brains out." A smart alec kept saying things like, "Clean up on isle two," or "Hey kid, next time lunch is on me." No one came to the ill man's aide. All the prisoners could do is watch the ill man get sicker and sicker. Eventually he stopped. Tom wondered if he puked so much that he could puke no longer, or that he died from puking so much. He wondered if anybody could die from that.
A group of people in the Pokemon Protector uniform came into the hall. "Ok mindless drones," said a man, "it is your turn to work on the new cells we are building down stairs this week," he said with fake enthusiasm. A few prisoners groaned. Every Pokemon Protector went to a cell and unlocked it. Tom turned back and saw a bird flying just over the horizon. He would have done a double take but a Pokemon Protector shoved him out of the cell. From what he saw it was a Farfetch'd, but he couldn't tell for sure. Tom saw the ill man. He was pale and gaunt.
"Ugh, it smells worse than a pig pen in here," said the woman who took the ill man out of his cell. They lead the prisoners down a hall then down a lot of stairs; some led upward. Finally, they got to a tunnel. It was poorly lit. Prisoners were already working there.
"Grab a pick and start digging," commanded a woman. She was fat; barley fit into her uniform.
"Miss, I don't feel very well," said the ill man. He was holding his stomach and leaning a bit forward.
"Did I ask if you had a stomach ache? Get digging!" she said angrily. Then she and the rest of the people in that group went back out the door. The mob of prisoners went to a wall to start their labor. Tom went over to a guy who was already there before him.He looked around first. He saw some pokemon protectors keeping the prisonersin line, and another Pokemon Protector talking to a man with a map. Then he turned to the guy next to him.
"What are we supposed to do?" Tom asked as he grabbed a pick ax.
"Just keep whackin' your pick at da rock," said the man next to him. Tom started to swing. "I hear we hunerd feet unda da wada," said the man next to him. Tom simply nodded and continued to work. Pieces of rock were flying in his face.
After a while Tom started to get tired. His arms could fall off any minute, but he kept digging. What put all his strength back in his arms was the flash ofgold in the area of rock in front of him. He started to swing harder. It finally fell to the floor. He bent down and picked it up. He slipped it into his pocket. Tom continued to digging, hoping that there were more gold nuggets in the wall. After thirty minutes of digging, Tom finally realized that what he found was very lucky and the chances of another one being near by would be very slim. His muscles began to ache again. Tom kept digging until he over heard a Pokemon Protector and the guy with the map talking. "Are you sure we are under Lilycove?" said the Pokemon Protector.
"I am almost positive," replied the man with the map. "It is either we are under Lilycove City or the ocean. If we are under the ocean, then there are only a few inches of rock between us and the water. But my calculations are pretty correct and I think we are under Lilycove City." He sounded uncertain. Tom stopped digging.
The Pokemon Protector came over and grabbed Tom's pick. He brought it up and struck the rock hard. Tom flinched. A little stream of water slid down the wall. The Pokemon Protector looked up at Tom then the man with the map. "All right everybody. Line up and you will be escorted back to your cells," shouted the Pokemon Protector. Everybody looked muddled. Yet there was relief in their faces. Everyone began to line up. "And you," said the Pokemon Protector to the man with the map, "you will be coming with me." Tom, without thinking, grabbed the pick ax and put it back on the pick ax shelf. A chunk of rock fell from the wall, and water rushed into the construction site. The force of the water was enough to be chipping little pieces of rock off the wall, allowing more water to come in. Everyone looked at the water rushing into the construction site; until the whole wall gave way. An explosion of water and rock struck the people. Everyone was submerged. The lights went out. Some water Poekomon infiltrated the room. Some were Chinchous whichput back a little light in the hall.Tom wasn't good with holding his breathe.
A group of people were crowding the door. Tom was one of them. Somehow the door was jammed and would not open. Tom kicked the glass window, it busted. The suction was more powerful than a vacuum. It pushed Tom through. He flew out into the hall outside the door. Water was rushing in the hall. He sat there staring in disbelief. Behind him, Two Pokemon Protectors ran around the corner into the hall. One sent out a Xatu.
"Xatu, rip the door off the hinges," commanded one of the Pokemon Protectors. Xatu unhinged the door. The force of the water was too great for Xatu. It shoved the door into the hall. By some miracle the door missed Tom. He was once again in the water. The flow smashed him into a wall, some stairs, which led up, another wall, and another flight of stairs which also led up, but only this time he had Xatu to cushion his blow. Tomwas about to pass out from lack of breathe. He quickly swam up the steps. He sat there for a minute. Some more people went up the steps too. Tom was breathing heavily.
He was thinking about what just happened. It happened so quickly thatTom didn't even know what he was doing. Then he realized there was a huge hole that led out of this horrible place. He heard the footsteps of Pokemon Protectors coming. He took a deep breathe and dived back in the water which a minute ago he was so desperately trying to get away from.