Chapter Fifteen

Kelly wrestled with her conscience. What should she do? Two of her Pokemon had already been defeated and she was apprehensive about sending Delibird or Cheeky out to face Kevin's Houndour. For this was no ordinary Pokemon battle; Kevin and his Pokemon were, she realised with a grim certainty, being controlled somehow. But by what? The Rock of Darkness? Could it have been unearthed already?

"We've got to do something!" Candida cried from the sidelines. She watched as Houndour snarled menacingly, baring his sharp white teeth as if to tell everyone in sight that he was going to make mincemeat out of any human or Pokemon who tried to take him on.

"I know, but what?" was Autumn's reply as her Pikachu leapt onto her shoulder, his cheeks sparking. "I don't think anything can stop those Pokemon!"

"You're right there, Autumn," Kevin said flatly. "And I suggest you surrender before my loyal Dark Pokemon make life extremely difficult for you. Murkrow, Peck her eyes out!"

In response, his Murkrow flew towards Autumn and, before she had chance to react, aimed his sharp beak at her face and delivered a vicious Peck Attack. She cried out and fell to her knees, clutching her bleeding face. Her friends immediately made to help her, only to be forced back by Kevin's snarling Houndour; the black dog bared his brilliant white teeth and looked at the youngsters, defying them to take him on. And, all the while, the eerie red glow was present in the eyes of Kevin and his Pokemon.

"Pikachu! Help!" Autumn yelled, struggling to avoid the attacking Murkrow. Bird Pokemon, she realised ruefully, came armed at all quarters; their talons were sharp and their beaks could inflict serious damage. As the cuts and scratches which now marked her face clearly testified . . . She did not know if Pikachu would be able to take on the Murkrow (who was clearly affected by the Rock of Darkness) but there seemed to be no other choice. If the bird kept on attacking her, she would be in big trouble . . .

Suddenly, a powerful Thunderbolt blasted through the air, catching Murkrow full in the flank and knocking him out of the air before he could counterattack or even take evasive action. At the same instant, another Thunderbolt came from a different direction; it got Kevin in the chest and he fell to the floor, knocked out. At the same instant, Houndour and Sneasel made to attack the speechless youngsters, only to be felled by another double Thunderbolt.


"Did you see that?" Marc asked as he and the others knelt beside Kevin and his Pokemon.

"Yes," Autumn said from where Sandra was cleaning up her cuts as best she could. "But where did that other Thunderbolt come from?" she added, glancing down at her Pikachu.

"Good question," said Candida. "I mean, Pikachu's the only Pokemon we've got that knows Thunderbolt and . . ." She broke off as she glanced round and saw the Pokemon that had fired the other Thunderbolt. It was an Elekid - Ryan's Elekid. And that meant . . .

"Ryan Benson!" she called, peering round the corner and spotting her younger brother. "What are you doing here?" She marched forward and grabbed the boy by the arm; he struggled a bit, clearly under the impression that she was a Team Midnight guard, but soon calmed down when he realised she was his sister. Candida, meanwhile, did not know whether to be relieved to see Ryan again or angry that he had put himself in such danger. It was all very well for teenagers like herself and her friends to try and take on Team Midnight, but Ryan was only nine. If something happened to him . . .

"Helping you," Ryan replied in a slightly surly tone.

"That's not what I meant. What I want to know is how did you get past the guards?"

"Easy! I took Elekid and slipped out when you did." Ryan puffed up his chest, clearly under the impression that this made him some sort of hero. "I've been looking for you ever since," he added, looking his sister full in the face.

Candida sighed; the last thing she wanted was to have her younger brother tagging along. It wasn't just the fact that Ryan could be annoying at times - they were still in danger and would remain so as long as Team Midnight had the upper hand. "Well, you're here now," she said reluctantly. "So stay with us and we'll try to sort this mess out."


The first order of business was bringing Kevin to his senses. Sandra knelt down beside him and examined the pendant round his neck. It was no longer emitting that sinister glow and was, instead, murky and opaque, almost as if whatever hold it had was broken the second Kevin was knocked out. "Guys," she whispered, "you don't suppose . . ."

" . . . it's part of the Rock of Darkness," filled in Candida. "If it is, we'll have to get rid of it." The only question was how would they go about doing that? Aquarius had been built right over where the Rock had been buried many centuries earlier, in the area that was now Team Midnight's mine. So, even if they could find the exact same spot, there was no way they could bury the pendant there. On the other hand, they could not leave it round Kevin's neck for fear that, once he came round, he might attempt to betray them again.

"I'll have Squirtle take it outside," said Marc. "Then, it can throw that thing away, where it can't cause any more trouble."

The friends exchanged glances. Maybe that would help, at least where Kevin and his Pokemon were concerned, but would it be too little too late? Even if this plan did succeed, even if Marc's Squirtle did manage to slip out of Aquarius, dispose of the pendant and get back inside undetected, it was only a small fragment of the Rock. To stop Team Midnight once and for all, they would have find out where the Rock itself . . .

Kelly sighed. "Still, it's the best plan we've got." She reached forward and removed the pendant from around Kevin's neck. "Marc, call out your Squirtle."

Marc did not need telling twice. He pulled out Squirtle's Poke Ball and pressed the button to activate it. Then, in a flash of light, his Squirtle emerged and stood blinking up at his trainer and his friends. "Squirtle squirt?" the small Water Pokemon said, asking his trainer what he wanted him to do.

Kelly handed the pendant to Squirtle. "Squirt?" Squirtle didn't know what he was supposed to do with it, so Marc quickly explained.

"Squirtle, I need you to get rid of that. Take it out of Aquarius and . . . well, do something with it! Bury it or something!"

"Squirtle!" replied Squirtle, saluting as he turned to go, the pendant clutched in his hand. Since he was not a Dark Type, the power emanating from the pendant did not affect him and he was able to keep a clear head. "Squirtle squirt," he added before darting off down the corridor. Marc and the others watched until he was out of sight.

"Hey, Squirtle!" Sandra called after him. "Good luck!"


Good luck was exactly what they would need, Candida thought grimly. Not only did they have to get rid of that fragment of the Rock of Darkness, they also had to find the Rock itself. Once that was done, they would have to get rid of it before Team Midnight's plans could come to fruition. They also had to find a way of freeing everyone in Aquarius, of restoring the underwater city to its proper order, and that would require them to come up with an unbeatable plan. Could a small group of youngsters and their Pokemon pull off such a thing?

The first order of business, however, was finding out if removing the pendant from Kevin had had any effect. They held their breath as they gathered around him, all hoping he was on their side again but, at the same time, fearing he was not. "Kevin?" whispered Jeremy as he shook his friend's shoulders. "Kevin, can you hear me?"

Kevin groaned slightly, before opening his eyes and looking up at his friends. He could see Jeremy and Candida kneeling to his left, with Autumn and Sandra opposite them. Nearby were Kelly, Marc and another, much younger, boy he only vaguely recalled seeing before. He was confused. The last thing he remembered was Team Midnight releasing their sleep-gas; the time since then was a vague blur, as if he had been doing things without being fully aware of it. What had been happening? How had he come to be lying on the floor with a pounding headache? And who was that kid with his friends?

"W - what's happening?" he mumbled groggily as Jeremy helped him to his feet.

"Take it easy," urged Sandra. "You were being controlled by Team Midnight, but . . ."

Kevin didn't hear the rest of her sentence. His mind was filling with hazy images. He saw himself waking up surrounded by Team Midnight agents, all of them talking excitedly about the Rock of Darkness. He remembered struggling to get away as one of the agents looped something around his neck. Then, seconds before he lost the power of conscious thought, he glimpsed something, a shiny black rock in a glass display case . . . After that, everything was a blur.

And, yet, some things still stuck in his memory. Somehow, he knew he had been doing something bad, something that could have hurt his friends. "D - did I . . .?" he began to ask. But Candida cut him short.

"It wasn't your fault - it was the Rock of Darkness. Team Midnight were using it to control you and your Pokemon."

"But you're going to be all right," Sandra added. "Marc's Squirtle took the fragment you were wearing and it's going to try and get rid of it."

Kevin smiled in spite of the seriousness of the situation. "Thanks - just what I needed."


With an expression of grim determination on his face, Marc's Squirtle scouted the underwater city, searching for a way out. In his hand, he held the pendant Team Midnight had been using to control Kevin and his Pokemon; since he was not a Dark Type, there was no risk of it affecting him. But he knew he had to hurry. He had to get outside, dispose of the pendant and get back inside before Team Midnight . . .

As if just thinking about them had tempted fate, Squirtle ran into a group of Team Midnight agents. There were five of them, all armed, and the small Water Pokemon gulped at the sight of them. What chance did he have against armed humans, especially when he was outnumbered by five to one? Nonetheless, he had to at least try. He had to keep the pendant out of their hands. Before any of the agents realised what he was doing, he slipped the pendant into a gap in his shell and drew himself up to his full height.

"Squirtle squirtle squirtle!" he declared, puffing his chest up and trying to look as big and intimidating as he could. This was normally an easy task, but, then again, he was normally facing a fellow Pokemon, not a group of armed humans. And he knew from past experience that these particular humans were bad news, more than capable of killing him if the whim took them. He faltered as one of the agents trained his gun on him. "Squirtle!"

"Well now," the agent said out loud. "Are you afraid of Team Midnight, my little pipsqueak?"

At the sound of the word "pipsqueak", Squirtle's temper snapped. There were few things he hated more than being belittled just because he was still in his first evolutionary stage. And calling him a pipsqueak was the biggest insult of all; it reminded him of a time when he and Marc had faced another trainer's Medicham - and lost badly. Then, as Marc ran to pick Squirtle up, the Medicham's trainer had made a cutting remark about "wasting time battling pipsqueaks". No, Squirtle did not like being called a pipsqueak and, guns or no guns, he was going to teach these humans a lesson.

"Squirtle!" he shouted defiantly as he leapt into the air and pulled his head and limbs back into his shell. Then, water gushed out through every opening in the solid shell, soaking the agents from head-to-toe and giving the floor a good drenching as well. This was Hydro Pump, a particularly powerful Water Type Attack; it involved the Pokemon spraying high-pressure jets of water at its opponent, jets powerful enough to knock most enemies flying . . .

That done, Squirtle retrieved the pendant (which had shot out of his shell during the Hydro Pump) and ran off down the corridor. He would have prefered to have Autumn's Pikachu with him so they could take advantage of water's electricity-conducting properties, but at least he had, hopefully, slowed the agents down. He risked a quick glance back and saw the agents getting ready to chase after him.

"Get after it!" one of them yelled. "There'll be a new Squirtle-shell on the wall tonight!"

But, as the agents tried to chase after Squirtle, they slipped on the wet floor and went crashing into each other to land in an undignified heap. Squirtle chuckled to himself as they began to quarrel, each of them blaming the others for the collision. Then, he turned and disappeared down the corridor before any of them could find their feet. Now, all he had to do was find a way out of this place. He thought for a moment, trying to recall everything he had seen in Aquarius, looking for a route to the open ocean.

He instinctively dismissed the main docking bay; Team Midnight probably had it under guard to prevent his trainer and his friends from escaping. An emergency exit, then? There were plenty dotted around Aquarius and he didn't recall seeing a Team Midnight agent near any of them. That was probably his best bet, to find one of these exits and hope there were no agents nearby . . . And, as luck would have it, there was one right next to him, its purpose clearly marked by the stylised picture of an Aquagear on the wall beside it. Above the picture, there was a notice listing the emergency evacuation procedure, but that didn't concern Squirtle; he couldn't read anyway.

He leapt onto the hatch and began struggling to open it. Doing so was tough work for a small Squirtle and he grunted with exertion as he heaved and pulled on the handle which held it closed. Finally, however, he had managed to open the exit just wide enough for him to squeeze through. Grasping the pendant firmly, he squeezed through into an airlock designed to keep Aquarius from flooding whenever the emergency exits were opened. Up ahead was the outer door, which was operated via a button on the wall; the only trouble was it was placed at human height . . .

Still, a quick running jump, followed by a Mega Punch ought to fix that. So he charged at the door, jumped and slammed his fist against the button. The door slid open instantly, causing the chamber to flood with water as Squirtle took a deep breath and prepared to swim out.


Meanwhile, Candida and her friends - now with Ryan in tow - were looking for a new hiding place. The only problem was that they were beginning to run out of options. Team Midnight seemed to be everywhere; no matter where the group tried to hide, the agents always forced them out in the end. Escaping from Aquarius altogether was out of the question; they all had family enslaved under the ocean and were not about to abandon them. Even so . . .

"I think our first priority should be to find the Rock of Darkness," said Sandra, electing to speak for everyone. "Until we do, Kevin's Pokemon are a danger to us."

"Yes, but where is it?" replied Autumn, who sat on the floor with her arms around her Pikachu.

"In Aquarius - duh!" was Jeremy's contribution to the discussion.

"I know that. The question is, where in Aquarius?"

Candida sighed, realising this was going to take a long time, time they could ill afford to waste. She turned to Kevin, who sat looking down at his Poke Balls, a troubled expression on his face. Was he thinking about what had happened recently? And did he remember anything of what he had seen before Team Midnight put him under her control? There was only one way to find out.

"Kevin?" she ventured.

He looked up. "What?"

"Kevin, did . . . do you remember seeing anything after you were caught? Anything that could have been the Rock of Darkness?"

"I - I think so - at least I saw a rock. It was in some sort of display case . . ." Kevin broke off as he stuggled to remember. "It was . . . black and I saw a painting on the wall next to it."

"A painting?" echoed Kelly. "Of what?"

"A Pokemon," replied Kevin. "A Dark Type, but I can't remember if it was a Houndour or a Poochyena. And . . . and . . . Sorry, but that's all I can remember."

The group exchanged glances. Kevin's information wasn't much to go on, but it was as much as could be expected considering what had happened to him recently. In fact, he had revealed more than he knew, as Autumn suddenly realised. "Guys," she said, "we need to get to Rich's office." Seeing the puzzled looks from her friends, she hurried on. "Remember that time Team Midnight put me in the Tank? Well, before they did, they took me into Rich's office and I saw what looked like a display case in there. And it had a painting of a Mightyena next to it . . ."

"So you're saying we've got to break into Rich's office?" asked Sandra.

Autumn nodded. "That's about the size of it. Look," she added, when Sandra opened her mouth to object, "I know it's risky, but we don't exactly have a choice."

"Maybe we could arrange a diversion," suggested Marc. "You know? Do something to keep Team Midnight busy?"

"Let's have the Pokemon break something!" piped up Ryan.

Candida looked at her brother, who had been remarkably quiet throughout the discussion. Normally, he would have been interupting every five seconds. It was almost as if he sensed how serious this was, that a small group of youngsters were all that stood between Team Midnight and the realisation of the criminal group's plans. And she had just been thinking along much the same lines as his suggestion. "OK, she said. "Jeremy, we'll have your Charmeleon start a fire in the corridor. Then, when the alarm goes off, we'll head up to the office. Autumn's Pikachu and Ryan's Elekid can shock any agents we run into. Agreed?"

The friends nodded in unison. "Agreed!"