Chapter 36
Silver motioned for everyone else to stay back as he walked up to the door. On the other side, a long, white hallway stretched ahead for about thirty yards before branching into two different directions.
There were no guards in sight. He supposed that there really didn't need to be any guards on the inside. Nobody really expected anyone to get this far inside. Between the access panel and the hidden service elevator, it was even a little surprising that the two guards they had seen were there. Whoever these people were, they hadn't counted on being found.
Still, they were a group that had enough reckless determination to kidnap human Pokémon in broad daylight. Anybody that could do something like that without leaving a trail was not to be taken lightly. Silver's group needed to be cautious.
"Alright," Silver called the others into a huddle, "those guards won't be out forever. We'll have to move quickly. We'll split up to cover more ground and it'll be easier to hide if we stay in small groups." He looked at each of his companions, in turn, and mentally weighed their strengths and weaknesses. He only had a moment to decide, but the choice seemed obvious, "we'll split up our human Pokémon evenly. Mark and Maple, you stick with me, Shinobi and Lily. Kim, you and Volt look after Eric and Tsunami."
Silver waited for each of them to agree before continuing, "If you get into trouble, don't worry about us and just get yourselves out. Don't do anything too brave or stupid, just stay safe. We don't know what we're in for. We might not be able to do anything besides scout on this trip, anyway."
He doubted whether Tsunami and Eric were calm enough to make that kind of decision, but there was no time to take it back now. He had to trust them. They were all he had, after all.
Each of them considered Silver's orders. He had a point and he seemed to know what he was doing, but each of them found it difficult to trust a stranger with their lives. But splitting up the human Pokémon and keeping their forces even sounded like the best strategy. If they ran into trouble that would be the best way of getting them all out alive.
"Just be smart, guys," Silver gave a reassuring smile, "and we'll all get out of here together."
"Okay," Kim agreed, exiting the huddle, "you heard the man. Let's move."
Silver led the way, gingerly opening the door. He stepped as lightly as he could, careful to make as little sound as possible. The others followed him in single-file and mimicked his behavior.
There were several doors on either side of the hallway. As Silver approached the nearest one, on the left, he stayed low to the ground and close to the wall. He peeked in through the window in the door and saw a desk with a few filing cabinets along the wall. It was just an office. Thankfully, it was empty.
He motioned to Shinobi to check the others. The human Ninjask darted ahead to each of them. The faint buzzing of his wings sounded a hundred times louder to Silver than should be possible. He hoped that was just his nerves. At last, Shinobi came to a stop at the final door and shook his head. They were all empty.
Breathing sweet relief, Silver continued moving the group forward again. He moved a bit faster this time, but remained careful not to make any noise. He came to the junction at the end of the hallway and peered around the corner while Shinobi did the same on the opposite side. Each side went back for another ten yards before veering off. The hallways led off in the same direction as the entranceway, deeper into the complex.
Both of the adjoining hallways were empty. So far, so good.
Silver motioned Kim up to him. Crouching low, she moved past the rest of the group and came up to Silver.
"You take the right, we'll take the left," Silver whispered and Kim nodded without argument. She crossed to the opposite side and motioned for her group to join her. Volt, Eric and Tsunami joined her while Shinobi, Lily, Mark and Maple grouped together behind Silver.
"Good luck," Silver mouthed. Crouching low and sticking to the inside of the hallway, he led his group away and out of sight.
With his disappearance, Kim suddenly realized the weight of the responsibility he had given her. Feeling the blood drain from her face, she looked back at her charges. Volt, Tsunami, and Eric; a Raichu, a Swampert and a ten-year-old boy. One could've hoped for better. Still, they were all ready for a fight and would be more than happy to just start tearing down walls. She couldn't say the same for the others. Especially with Maple's eerily quiet attitude, at the moment.
"Well, let's do this," she whispered. She tried to sound encouraging, more for herself than the others.
She walked on the balls of her feet, afraid that the slightest noise would send alarms blaring throughout the place. The inside of the complex wasn't being watched the way that the outside had been. In fact, security felt a little lax. Not that she was complaining.
Kim found herself wondering how they could've built a place like this. Himitsu Island hadn't been very developed until after the first tournament had been held. How could they build an underground base like this without anyone noticing? More importantly, who could have funded such a project?
But she brushed those thoughts away. She needed to focus. Her stomach was already doing somersaults as she crept forward through the hallway. She needed to calm down.
Suddenly, she heard something coming from up ahead. The hallway they were in turned again about ten yards ahead of her. Around the corner, the faint sounds of talking and laughing drifted towards them.
Kim froze and listened to the sounds, straining her ears to pick up any useful details. The seconds stretched into minutes as she listened, but she started to relax just a tiny bit. Thankfully, the sounds weren't getting any closer.
She waved for Volt to come with her, but instructed Eric and Tsunami to stay put. Her and her human Raichu snuck forward, straining to hear every nuance of the talking and laughing as they came closer.
Edging forward just enough to see with one eye closed, Kim peered around the next corner. About twenty yards ahead of her, she saw a large open doorway with some slightly brighter light filtering into the outer hallway. As she crouched there, she managed to pick out what sounded like clinking silverware.
It was a cafeteria. She suddenly remembered that it was about seven o'clock. She realized that most of the base was on a dinner break. Suddenly thinking about food, she realized that she hadn't eaten yet. But, on the other hand, if she ate anything, she was liable to throw it up from nerves alone.
A cafeteria. Breathing deeply, she didn't know whether this was good or bad. On the upside, most of the base was localized in a single room, leaving the rest of it understaffed and unprotected. On the other hand, Kim's group now had the misfortune of taking the path with the most resistance.
She had no way of knowing what was down the rest of this hallway. Suppose the prison cells were just around the next corner? They could turn around and retreat without being noticed. But they weren't finished. The worst part was that if they tried to cross now, they would surely be spotted.
Kim turned and frowned at Volt. The Raichu-boy frowned back and shook his head. They couldn't risk it. The two doubled back to join the waiting Eric and Tsunami.
"Well?" Tsunami whispered harshly.
"It's no good," Kim shook her head, "there's a cafeteria filled with them, up ahead. There must be at least twenty people in there."
"So?" Tsunami argued, "We can fight them."
"Not if they all have Pokémon," Kim explained, "we'll just get swarmed. We can't take on that many at once."
"What about Cotton?" Eric suggested, "Can't she put them to sleep?"
But Kim shook her head again, "I don't think she can cover the whole room. Somebody will get away and sound an alarm. Then everybody who isn't in there will come running, too."
"Dammit," Tsunami moved to pound his fist into the floor, but he stopped himself, "isn't there anything we can do?"
Kim struggled to come up with a plan. A distraction was what they needed, but what would draw the attention of the entire cafeteria without making anyone suspicious? She racked her brain for solutions, but there were none.
That was when they all heard the sounds of fighting coming from the other direction.
Mark and Maple stayed close behind Silver and Lily as they made their way through their half of the complex. Silver permitted Shinobi to scout ahead. The silent ninja was perfectly suited for situations like this. He could move quickly and almost soundlessly and he was strong enough to handle most threats that might appear.
As he watched them, Mark started admiring Lily's group. They complimented each other well and each had their own role to perform. Silver had come to them begging to leave the group, but Mark no longer believed that that was what he wanted. The human Absol cared about them. Otherwise he wouldn't be here.
He looked at Maple, on his right. She was finally starting to come around. The fear was all but gone from her eyes. That was good. After all, they might need her.
Silver started to pick up speed. Shinobi was already well ahead of them and there was still no sign of an enemy. But Silver remained cautious. The deeper in they went, the more difficult it would be to get out. Above all, he was afraid of being cornered.
The offices of the building stopped shortly after the initial split. They were soon passing by the second of a pair of laboratories. Each was filled with glassware and all sorts of expensive looking equipment. Only the second one had a solitary scientist working inside, but it was easy to crouch under the outside windows and slip past him.
A short distance ahead of them, Shinobi came to a stop at another branch-point. The path straight ahead began to slope downwards before becoming a staircase that wound downward, deeper underground. The one on the left stretched past the same laboratory and another office before turning right again.
"Which way?" Mark asked as the group huddled together under the corner of the laboratory. Silver and Maple both had a strange look on their faces as they looked straight ahead. Maple sniffed the air and then recoiled, shrinking away from the path ahead.
"Not that way," she whispered, shaking her head rapidly.
"Why not?" Mark asked, "What's down there?"
"Never mind," Silver hissed, "but, she's right. Not that way." The three human Pokémon turned down the left hallway, as if they couldn't leave fast enough. Mark stared at Lily in confusion, but she only shrugged. Whatever was down there, the human Pokémon wanted nothing to do with it. Mark hoped that it wasn't the way they were supposed to go.
He had to rush to catch up with the others and Lily nearly fell behind. But as they rounded the next corner, an all-too familiar face greeted them.
Lionel stood thirty yards ahead of them. He was too far away for Shinobi to take him down without a fight. But the anger Mark felt upon seeing the traitor told him that he wanted a fight more than what he had realized.
Without any orders, Silver and Shinobi were already moving, closing the distance fast. Double-fisted, Lionel pulled out two Pokéballs at once and called out for his allies. A human Seviper and Lanturn appeared between Lionel and his attackers, making the two hesitate.
The Seviper was a menacing, pale-skinned girl with short, greasy black hair. She wore a tight, leather cut-off top and pants that was dotted with yellow and purple markings. A forked tongue poked in between a pair of curved fangs in her mouth and a bladed serpent's tail extended behind her. She crouched low to the ground, as if the instinct to slither remained with her.
The Lanturn wore a yellow mask across his eyes and sported what looked like a light-blue wet suit. A strange glowing orb stretched out from the top of his head, just like a normal Lanturn. He also had a short finned tail, which he wagged ceaselessly, still attempting to swim.
Maple knew by looking at them what they were. The nurse at Himitsu's Pokémon Center had warned them of trainers that attempted to lock their human Pokémon in the transition stages after a Pokémon's evolution into a human. Such trainers believed it offered greater power to lock them in that state where their animal-like instincts were the strongest. Lionel was one of those trainers. It made her sick.
"Poison Tail," Lionel snapped his orders, "Thunderbolt." The Seviper darted forward for Silver, crouching low to the ground, while the orb extending from the Lanturn's head began to glow brighter as it gathered electricity.
"Protect!" Lily called out. Both of her human Pokémon stopped their advance. They each held up their hands and a transparent golden shield of energy appeared around them. The Seviper swiped at Silver with her tail, but the blow bounced off of the shield and was easily deflected, knocking her back as if she had struck metal against metal. The stream of electricity that the Lanturn fired dissipated before it could reach Shinobi, who would've been felled by the blow if it weren't for Protect.
"Dammit!" Lionel screamed, "Again!"
"Suckerpunch! X-Scissor!" Lily switched to offense. Protect was powerful, but it wouldn't last forever. Silver darted at his opponent, punching her in the stomach, but it didn't have much effect and the Seviper retaliated by slashing across his chest. Lily's human Absol managed to pull back just enough to keep the blow from causing too much damage, but the pain was still highly intense. His vision started to blur and he cursed the fact that the snake had managed to poison him.
Shinobi crossed his arms and a pair of short blades extended along the length of his forearms. He slashed in an X-shaped pattern across the chest of the enemy human Lanturn. Unfortunately, his results weren't much better than Silver's and the Lanturn barely reacted. It was almost finished charging its next attack and Lionel grinned. With Shinobi gone, the rest of the fight would be much easier.
"Leaf Blade!" Mark added his strength to the battle. Maple appeared next to Shinobi, with the Red state flaring in her eyes, and finished what he started. She slashed directly down the center of the human Lanturn, splashing blood onto all three of them. The Lanturn staggered back and dropped to one knee, defeated. Lionel had no choice but to recall him.
The three allies converged on the remaining opponent and brought her down with little resistance. Even with her type advantage over Maple and Shinobi, it wasn't enough to protect her.
Lionel fumbled for another Pokéball, but Silver never gave him the opportunity. Grabbing the kid by the collar, he lifted him off of the ground and slammed him into the wall.
"Good to see you, again," Silver hissed through gritted teeth. The poison was already getting stronger, but he ignored it, "I've got a lot of questions for you, but I'm kind of in a hurry here. So, I'm gonna let you go as long as you help me out."
Lionel tried kicking him, but the human Absol barely felt any pain from the weak attack. Silver slammed Lionel into the wall again, reminding him who was in charge.
"Now, let's be calm about this," Silver smiled at the kid. He could break him in half, if he chose, "all I want to know is where you're keeping the human Pokémon that you've kidnapped. Do that and you can walk away."
Lionel raised a trembling finger and pointed in the direction he had come from, "that way. Take a left and you'll see it on your right."
"Thank you," Silver grimaced as he felt the poison eat away at him, "Shinobi. Go check it out." Shinobi was gone in a streak of black and gold. He was gone for no more than fifteen seconds before he came back.
"He's telling the truth," Shinobi reported, "there was a guard, but I took care of him."
"Today's your lucky day, Lionel," Silver grinned as his gaze stabbed into Lionel, "get the hell out of here before I change my mind." Another wave of poison passed through him and he coughed a small amount of blood into his hand as he released the boy.
Without any more need for caution, Silver ran down the hall, Lily close behind. Mark and Maple lingered behind for a little bit. Mark debated if letting Lionel go was really the best idea. He was still furious at the blond-haired boy, but as he looked at him trembling on the ground, he felt a pang of sympathy.
But he couldn't forgive him. At least, not right then. He turned away from him and followed after the others.
"I'm sorry, Mark," Lionel's voice trembled and Mark looked back at him, "I didn't want to do all this. It's not my fault. We're friends, right?"
Mark shook his head.
"I don't know if we ever were friends," Mark left him behind and hurried to catch up with the others.
AN: I'm starting to feel kinda bad for Lionel. He's terrible at being evil and is really just in way over his head. And now he's hurt the people that he should've been friends with just about beyond repair.
And look at that! A three-on-two battle! Not quite a double-battle and not quite a triple battle, but it's not bad. It's short though, which is kinda disappointing. I'll have to try again later.
Anyways, thanks for reading!