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PART THIRTEEN(13)
~~~~~~~~~~
Everett was caught off guard by his superior's first shot and clearly
saw one of the smoke grenades on that man's munitions belt go up in, 'Well,
smoke,' he chided himself, swinging the Acquizen's scope to reaquire his armed
enemy target.
"Shimmie Suzan!" he swore under his breath; he hadn't caught
more than a glimpse of the man, as he ducked behind some cover. Not hard to do;
cover was everywhere.
'Convenient for you, not so for me,'
Angling his scope slightly,
'My piece has nice 'flower effects',' he taunted. 'If you don't
pop up like a jackles-in-the-box, then I'll be content to make you dig down
like a molimerd, or scurry for better cover like a pikachu or a rattata. Take
your pick, my friend.'
The rain had lightened a little, and between Two Dash Two's second and
third shots ~ which went he didn't know where ~ Everett suddenly heard the
unique hollow whistle of an incoming Shatta Ball.
'Draw poke`ner,' he cracked, wishing he could shout it without
giving away his position. 'Reach for the sky or your poke`mon.'
He also wished he could see which of the P-teamers was first, but didn't
dare let his man out of his spy-line of sight.
He heard the ball release-shatter on impact ~ probably with a ruin stone
~ and noted with equal parts disappointment and approval, that the cover-driven
Guardsman didn't show a hair of his head. All
'So I can't part his hair and scare him into quitting the Agency on
the spot,' he shrugged mentally. 'I can still give him something to have
flashbacks about.'
He braced himself firmly and loosed a round
from the Acquizen.
Pulling his eye away from the scope, Everett saw the Aurapolite-filled
munition zenith ~ probably taking the three ruin stones down to chips ~ and thought
elatedly, 'There's your first flash for backs, buster!'
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Effectively out of the communications loop, OCley was thrown into a
frenzy of worry when he heard the sound of a Shatta Ball passing somewhere over
his head, towards the lookout point.
The shots he heard ~ one before and five more after ~ were expected, but
here was yet another twist of his planning.
'What the Hell's Vent of
His assumption that they were requiring more than one P-teamer was proved
correct, when his ears caught the signature whistle of another Shatta Ball
passing overhead.
There were only two reasons OCley could see, for his two man pin-team to
call for P-support; either the archeologists were using their work poke`mon to
threaten their position, or there was a Continental Authority presence.
'And it better not be the latter in the form of an assigned
ATTA-Guards watch,' he thought seethingly. Insider hadn't made mention of
one, and if there proved to be such, it could only speak for him playing both
sides against the middle ~ Not a healthy practice from the Organization's point
of view, and certainly unwise and dastardly, from his.
'Into the darrigen's lair with it!' he decided unavoidably, referring
to waiting silently for OLie and the survivors to appear in their own good
time; the mission's covertion was certainly blown now, and it would be nice to
clear out in a flaming hurry. Orders or no, he felt he was justified in not
leaving an after-watch ~ Especially if there were ATTA-Guardsmen on
location.
He skipped down several of the first passage steps, cupped his hands to
his mouth unconsciously, and shouted forcefully, "If you're still alive
OLie, move your leaden ass!"
'Patience and civility be hanged!' he thought, as he leaned
against the passage's wall, to await an expectedly testy response from someone
below, or ~ much more desirably ~ the appearance of the 'survivors' themselves.
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Four of the 'survivors' were sufficiently stunned by the qualified order
from OCley above, to pause and trade disgusted looks ~ Only OLie's expression
remained neutral.
Three Dash Two ventured an opinion, as they all started moving again.
" 'Jerk' I believe you said, Sir," he quoted OLie dryly. Then he
pronounced, "I myself have come to the conclusion that 'Jerk OCley' is a be-damningly
cold kilale!"
"He's just under stress," OLie rejoined, defending his superior
with honest respect. "He has redeeming qualities." Then he added
silently, 'Like I've found out you do, TDT.'
"It's a long walk up to the surface," he continued aloud.
"I lay you, ten to one, that the HoCra will be waiting for us at the top,
when we get there."
He didn't care that there were no takers; money was the last thing on
their minds right now, he was sure.
"Let's pick it up fellas,"
The diver looked over his shoulder at OLie and asked him dutifully,
"Will you lead the charge, Sir?"
"An order is an order; especially without a 'please'," OLie
admitted with measured humor, and did take the lead.
He set a 'fast jog' pace for the gradual incline, and a 'double-time'
pace for the stairs, which allowed them to breath without too much effort.
He regretted not pushing a little harder, when he found out Three Dash
Two had enough breath to run, and speak as well.
"Stress just how?" he pressed OLie, on his statement of moments
earlier. "He'll only wait so long, whether we're dead or alive. What's HIS
rush?"
The thought that OCley would pull the topside teamers and head out
without them, if he came to believe they were all casualties, encouraged OLie
to make a verbal reply to his superior's order ~ Even if the meat of it had
been as un-ingratiating as 'hustle your bustles'.
"All present, accounted and running for it, Sir!" he shouted up the
passage. Then he responded to Three Dash Two's unseeing query.
"It comes back to those Tremors again, TDT. The geologist in the
enemy camp must have a seismic detector set up. And there can be little doubt
it registered those tremors, and started screaming bloody, murderous, mayhem ~
Not the sort of thing the entire camp would sleep through," he pointed out
darkly. Then he concluded, "It may be a real beedrill nest, up on
top."
"Shezam Cloyster!" Three Dash Two muttered with alarmed
vehemence. "That's all we need to make this mission complete; to pull out
of the arena while under attack from a couple of archeological poke`mon!"
The others felt the same way, and none of them suspected it was actually
worse than that.
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The sharper crack of
Eyes slowly focusing, he realized it was still raining ~ Only he couldn't
feel the rain on his scales. He only felt worse.
Reith was badly bruised, and very, very
dazed...
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He had given the matter of survival attention as he slithered up the
passage, and concluded that it would be too dangerous to attempt to ride the down
flow, so he determined to go up ~ If at all possible.
The soil of the blockage had been alarmingly loose, and the farther he
had tunneled, the more he was sure the whole works was going to shift around
him and trap him for a short moment, and then he would be inescapably washed
down the passage.
But despite his surety of his fears coming to fruition, he tunneled on
through the blockage, circumventing fallen stones and pushing straight on when
he could.
It was hard to know how far he had gone, and how much farther he had to
go, but it didn't really matter, he knew, and so he just furrowed onward
without giving it more than the one thought.
He was actually about two thirds of the way out, and passing through what
felt to him like thick silt-mud, when the totally expected happened ~ He felt
the earth shift around his taidle section, and run away in a flow.
Unnerved, he reacted to this dreadedly expected occurrence and
desperately forced himself a bit farther, before he even tried to think exactly
what was happening.
He wasn't left in any doubt.
A pure current flow from his left and now behind him, was eating at the
blockage. Sufficiently wet and loose, everything gave around him suddenly, even
as he tried to borrow still upwards, and he felt himself slip backwards, and
then the unpleasant sensation of a current running against his lower half.
Despairing, he didn't suspect there was any possibility he wasn't going
back down the way he had come ~ Until he was caught in the instantly contrary
maelstrom.
Seconds later, he was shot out of the
passage's entrance on the surface...
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He hadn't been able to tell ~ as he spun and rolled in the leading force
of the up flow ~ which end was up and which way was down. And he certainly
hadn't known when or at what sort of angle he had exited the passage, but he
was still alive, so obviously he hadn't been launched straight up to a height
of twenty yards; he wouldn't have survived a fall from that height...
The tears of his agony mixing with the lightening rain, and not sure if
he was grateful to be alive or not, Reith called as loudly as he could for
help...
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