Kei was jittering as he followed Ditto, flanked by Shu and Daichi on either side. Drew and Chiyo bought up the rear. Ayame and Miyuki had to stay out since they did not have a Magma uniform. Drew had suggested that May stay with the girls, pretend that she had caught the intruders. Damon and Carlos were assigned to keep guard outside the basement, see that no real guards come in.
"Ditto." The Pokémon turned and whispered conspiringly, pointing towards a dark tunnel.
An eerie red light at the end of the tunnel and a sort of coldness, material straight out of horror movie. The tunnel in itself was dark and cold. As they moved forward, losing sight of Ditto for most part unless its head was silhouetted in the crimson glow, Kei grimaced at smell.
It was like the air was a thousand years old, stale and decaying. Add to that, the fact that they were underground and the tunnel was cold, Kei was getting nauseous and slightly claustrophobic. As he walked, it felt like the earth beneath his feet was sticking to his boot, trying to hold him in place. At one point, his boot made a squelching noise as he stepped on something sticky and slimy and he thought that he had stepped on Ditto.
Just as he was thinking that he couldn't hold his breath any longer, Ditto stopped. It was lucky that Shu caught hold of Kei, otherwise the fate of the purple Pokémon would have really been sealed by his boot.
"What?" Kei muttered.
"Shh," Daichi hissed, "listen."
Kei did not understand what they were listening for, but he did as he was told and listened. For a few long moments, he stood still and tried to listen for what his four friends were listening to. It took him some more time to finally concentrate on a low humming sound. It sounded like a cluster of bees but mechanic. He heard some shuffling and some inaudible muttering. He leaned forward slightly so that he could have a look.
Big did not do justice to the size of the chamber. It was huge, grand, humongous, gigantic. Despite being underground, it contrasted starkly to the cavern outside or the tunnel which led to it. It was light and spacious, and the air, though still slightly stale, was by no mean suffocating. Red lanterns hung from the ceiling and the torches combined to give the chamber a dim red tint in the darkness. The chamber was so high that the ceiling was hidden in the dark gloom overhead. The ground was leveled and earthen.
But what caught his attention was the machine sitting in the center of the chambers. The machine was so big that, despite being the only object in the room, it filled the chamber comfortably. It was big and black and looked like sort of an animal in the dark, with a huge black pillar rising from its back and disappearing into the darkness above. The place for the two eyes was empty, giving it a haunted, hollow look. And there, on the middle of its 'forehead' was the Stone, the only thing shining in the room. It glowed cheerfully in different colors, red, blue, emerald, orange, looking entirely out of place in this dark place.
They would have stood there, staring at the different colors the Stone glowed for the rest of eternity if Ditto had not snapped them out of the haze.
"Ditto." The Pokémon said loud enough to attract the attention of the three young adults as well as the lone occupant of the chamber.
"Ah, Brodie." Kei forced his eyes away from the Stone and focused on the tall, thin man in front of him who was beckoning him inside. He took a deep breath and strode forward, resisting the urge to look back at Shu for comfort as the four followed him inside.
"Boss." Kei said, the word sounding foreign to him as it was directed towards Maxie instead of Shu.
"News, Brodie?" The man regarded the four 'guards' behind him with a curious expression and then looked around in confusion, "Where is Courtney?"
"Intruders, sir." Kei said, trying to be as light as possible, "Two brats managed to reach as far as the basement. We managed to take them down, but Courtney was injured. She is unconscious right now."
"Oh," Maxie look slightly concerned as he looked at him and then at the guards, "And where are they?"
"I stationed a guard to keep a check on them, two guards outside the basement door and bought these four down here, in case there are more lurking around."
"And the stones? Did you find the stones?" Maxie looked at him eagerly.
Kei smiled coldly, "Yes, sir. Ditto proved valuable in finding the stones." Kei turned to Drew and held out his hand. As Drew produced the stones and placed them in Kei's hands, he looked at him with a mischievous glint in his green eyes. Kei turned and held up the fire and water stones for Maxie to see, and then handed them to Daichi, "Go on. Place them."
Daichi took the stone and with an amused tone, which hopefully only he recognized, said, "Yes, sir." Kei turned to Maxie and tried to look excited.
Maxie took a deep breath as he stared at the machine with pride, "Brodie, finally, our dream will be fulfilled. The Groudan will rise. The land will expand, and push back the water. We'll rule this world."
"Yes, sir." Kei replied, trying to keep the grimace out of his voice. His eyes went to Shu, who gave him a smirk and subtly nodded towards the Machine. He turned his head to the black monster and searched for Daichi. Daichi was standing in front of the machine and…doing something. What is he doing?He turned his head to Maxie, trying to peel his eyes away from Daichi who was- What is he doing?"B-boss, what are we going to do about the situation outside?"
Maxie did not look like he was paying attention to the guard near his machine, or to Ditto, who was hiding behind Drew's leg instead of his supposed 'Master'. Kei looked at him; Maxie looked like he was day-dreaming, his eyes heavy-lidded and a dopey smile on his face. On anyone else, the expression might have looked funny but on Maxie, it made Kei try and inch away.
It took Maxie a few more minutes to come to his senses and realize that placing the stones would not take as long as the guard was taking. "Hey! What are you doing, you oaf?"
As Maxie strode towards the machine, Kei followed, glancing at Shu, Drew and Chiyo nervously. Each gave him a mischievous grin which did nothing to ease his nerves. Shu frowned when Kei gave him an uncertain look. Kei turned around and fixed his eyes on Daichi, who was closing the control panel located near the 'neck' of the machine. Maxie looked confused and outraged and in reality, quite funny if the situation had been any different. "What, in the name of Groudan, are you doing?"
"Fixing the stones in their correct places…?" Daichi perfected the expression too well as he motioned to the Machine that Kei also looked at the place where the two stones were fixed, completing the animal face, the two eyes glowing red and blue. A shiver ran through his spine as he looked at it with a nauseous feeling growing in the pits of his stomach.
Maxie gave Daichi a dirty look, "Step back, runt!"
Daichi obeyed and so did the other 'guards'. Maxie took a deep breath to calm down and looked at Kei with an almost serene expression, "At last, Brodie. At last."
Kei tried to look enthusiastic but he could not help but eye the machine with distaste as Maxie ran his hands over it lovingly. His head was almost spinning and his stomach was swirling. He breathed deeply from his mouth to keep from retching.
He felt someone nudge his back and looked back to see Drew nodding towards the machine with an urgent expression. He looked forward and saw Maxie giving him an odd look, "Well?"
"I'm sorry, sir." Kei said, "I was having many thoughts. I just can't help myself from imagining the new world. You were saying something?"
Maxie regarded him with a small smile, "Ah, my boy. I understand. I do understand. I asked if you would like to pull the lever and let the power of the stone unleash."
The throbbing in his head multiplied until it felt like a hundred Snorlax were stampeding in his skull as he took a step forward and then another until he was standing near Maxie, a lever protruding from the black body of the machine in front of him.
"Go on, Brodie." Maxie whispered in his ears enthusiastically, "You deserve this. You have done so much. Go on, unleash the power, and free the mighty Groudan. We'll rule the world."
The buzzing in his ears, like a swarm of a million bees, rendered him unable to hear anything as he reached out with a trembling hand to pull the lever up, nervous eyes darting around for his friends to do something, anything.
He closed his eyes tightly as his hand came in contact with the metallic body of the lever and he gripped the lever until his knuckles turned white. He was beginning to feel light-headed as he tugged on the lever but it wouldn't budge. He opened his eyes, black blotches darkening his vision as he hefted the lever with all his strength.
Just as the lever moved up and settled in its place with a loud, resonating clink, his vision finally turned dark and he lost consciousness.
Chapter 33 was uploaded along with this chapter. Please read that before reading this.