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PART FOURTEEN(14)

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The last of the Shatta Balls away, One Dash One shut down the launcher's systems and picked the delivery weapon up.

Penny met him at the HoCra's hatch and took it from him helpfully. Setting it down on the bench padding once again, she began to fold it up, as she asked him steadily, "Why the P-teamers?"

Feeling on the spot, One Dash One mumbled, "Just another hitch. A rope with as many hitches would be good for climbing, ya know?"

She looked pained at his evasion, but didn't say anything, and turned to put away the launcher in the keep and tidy the jumble of remaining Shatta Balls.

Realizing she deserved a straight answer, he settled back into his seat and informed her, "There ain't no point in running 'stealth', no more; TDT reports ATTA Guards moving towards their position."

He maxed the rpm setting on the cushion-level props and hit the vehicle’s headlights, as he finished, "Wrath of OCley notwithstanding, we're moving all the way in now, and park this 'getaway car'!"

He was relieved to see Three Dash One smile through the mask of worry she wore.

'That's right honey; we're gonna see about rescuing your boyfriend,' he thought silently.

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They were all alive!

Too tired to dance a jig, OCley just smiled and nodded acceptingly. 'Thank the Goddess!' he thought.

The whole team would be together within ten minutes if...No! ~ He didn't even dare think it.

Trusting he was being watched by Three Dash One, OCley mounted the stairs slowly, and stood on a nearby heap of stones to wave the signal.

He lowered his arms after several seconds and glanced around him; between the echoes of the shots to the east, he thought he had heard something else ~ something low and indistinct.

Tuning out the thunder of the weapons exchange and the sudden battle bellows of a poke`mon ~ coming from the same direction ~ he strained his ears for to hear the sound, if it should come again.

It did come again, and he traced it to the injured poke`mon in a very few seconds ~ Once he realized it was the seznak he was hearing, and that the poke`mon was quite literally crying for help.

Aghast at the poke`mon's condition, OCley's first instinctive consideration, was if he was going to have to order the seznak put out of his misery.

But he dared to hope the seznak wasn't in as bad a shape as he looked, and determined he should be put into a Medi`Ball. Injured in the line of duty, he certainly deserved the chance to live; whether he looked like he would or not.

OCley crouched down to comfort the suffering P-teamer, and thought vehemently, 'ODO; you had better get that HoCra's fat assle over here damagingly quick...'

As if by way of the pilot's defense, the HoCra's headlights crested over the ruins in the near distance. They caught him for a moment on the vehicle’s down-swing as it began to descend the lowest ridge in the miniature mountain range of rubble, to the west.

'You are a dutifully hasty man, ODO,' the OC silently commended him forgivingly. ' 'May the wings of an angel be given me, so that I may come swiftly to those broken and crushed in spirit, those who are in need’.'

It was an undesirably fitting quote; Reith was certainly broken ~ even if he hadn't actually been crushed ~ and pitifully in need.

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It was well before the point in the passage where Everett had gotten caught by the breath, that OLie became identifiably aware of the sound of a small war taking place in the ruins above.

"Sheowti! We ARE engaged by someone," Three Dash Two observed uneasily. "Why do I hear..." He trailed off, realizing OLie Three must be getting sick of answering his stupid questions.

But OLie responded to his unfinished query anyway. "Because we have friendly neighbors who like to target-shoot at three in the morning!" the Operations Leader said sarcastically, then snapped, "Why do you bleeding think!?!"

No one of his subordinates bothered to reply to his obviously rhetorical question. Amid the blasts of an Acquizen and the stunted reports of a ShoRi, they couldn't miss the sound of shots from at least two Mangeez AC-Thirteens, set to mid-range caliber ~ The standard issue weapon for ATTA Guardsmen.

''Damn the detachment; Full speed ahead'!' OLie quipped to himself.

It was a rottenly peachy thought, that they all might be emerging from the passage under fire.

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Everett wasn't unhappy at all that he and Two Dash Two seemed to have a stalemate running; he figured his side won if they got away with fair cleanness.

Their side was at a disadvantage too; they had to be careful they didn't injure or kill their own P-teamers. He was therefore the more so pleased ~ even surprised ~ that they were holding the ATTA Guardsmen down.

The eelza was stalking the ATTA spouder with cover from the crossbolt's arrows, and the grass type oozlebert was contending with the ATTA darrigen. Veileen, the spry umbreon, had at least two of the non-coms cornered, and was awaiting an opportunity to trade off with the oozlebert for a spell.

'I hope she has that third non-com under her guard,' Everett thought worriedly, as he fired a pair of rounds over the darrigen's head, expecting it would duck down so the oozlebert could strike with a direct razor leaf at its cranial plate.

But the darrigen was too engrossed in its attack upon the grass type to notice it was being shot at closely. All the two shells did was impact and explode behind the dragon-form, dark type poke`mon, and distract it for a scant second; no real help to Blim, the oozlebert.

Knowing his position was clearly evident to both Guardsmen, and unwilling to leave the P-teamers to command themselves any longer, Everett did what he felt he should, assuming Two Dash Two wouldn't object. They wouldn't be pulling out of the ruins, without subduing the darrigen; one bite on the float cushion's containment bumper, and the HoCra would be seriously grounded. The spouder was no threat; they didn't have teeth.

There seemed to be a lull in the weapons fire, so he took a deep breath and shouted with authoritative force in his voice, "Veileen: get that spouder! Liza: put that darrigen to sleep! Acrit: cover for Veileen! And you, Blim: tie up those non-coms!"

There were no objections from Two Dash Two, and the four poke`mon rushed to obey his battle action commands.

As Veileen turned her back on them and moved for the spouder, Everett ~ his eye on the non-com's cover ~ saw them stand and dive apart, as Blim came at them in a flurry of his branches leaves.

'Oh Sheowti!' he thought, wide-eyed; he suspected suddenly that 'Mr. Leatherdusterjacket' was indeed quite free and moving around unnoticed ~ Somewhere.

He refused to look reflexively behind himself, and just prayed very hard Two Dash Two was on top of that possible situation.

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