Chapter Seventeen

The entire staff of Aquarius were crammed into four small cells, each of which was secured by what seemed to be an ordinary metal grill. There was no need for any of the youngsters to ask who had done this; it was obvious that the culprits were Team Midnight. The first priority was getting the cells open and Jeremy was walking towards the nearest grill, intent on forcing it open, when a voice called out to him.

"Don't be a fool, kid!"

The youngsters turned round at the sound of the voice. It was Wilson who had spoken. The legitimate director of Aquarius looked thin and careworn, a stark contrast with the strong persona he had presented when they first arrived, but there was no mistaking the tone in his voice. "Those grills are electrified," he went on, looking at the small group of youngsters. "Put one hand on that metal and . . ."

" . . . you'll get a pretty nasty shock," added a female voice from the next cell. Her pink nurse's uniform, perky voice and red hair in two looped pigtails marked her as a Nurse Joy.

"Well, how are we supposed to open it then?" asked Jeremy. Time was of the essence; they not only had to free the staff, they still had Team Midnight to deal with. He looked desperately at his friends, hoping they had some ideas, then back at the staff members in the cell. At length, the Nurse Joy spoke up.

"There's a control panel in the wall. I've seen Team Midnight use it - it controls all these cells . . ." Her voice seemed slightly less perky than usual; clearly the strain of the situation was getting to her. The youngsters looked in the direction she was pointing and saw a small switch set on the wall at head height. It was almost the same colour as the rest of the wall.

That's probably why we overlooked it," remarked Candida as she walked over to the switch and pressed it. For a moment, everyone tensed, fearing Team Midnight had set it up so that an alarm was triggered if anyone pressed it without authorisation. But the only thing that happened was the collective opening of all the cells. Candida turned to the others, a look of triumph on her face. "That was easy!"

"A little too easy," added Kelly.

"Whatever," said Candida. "Let's just get out of here . . ."

"Going somewhere?"


It was Agent Crozier who had spoken. The female Team Midnight agent was standing in the corridor, at the head of a phalanx of agents. Her Houndoom and Cacturne stood at her side, their eyes glowing with the same evil light that had been present in Kevin's Pokemon. "So?" she said, smiling evilly. "You kids thought you could outwit us, did you? Well, I've got news for you - Team Midnight rule now! Houndoom and Cacturne - attack!"

In response, her two Dark Pokemon launched themselves forward. Cacturne sprayed the area with Pin Missiles, forcing everyone to duck as Houndoom followed with a Flamethrower. As she felt the hot flames pass over her, Candida wished there was some way to fight back. But she knew it would be easier said than done; the battle she and her friends had had with Kevin's Pokemon revealed just how powerful the Rock of Darkness made a Dark Type . . .

Autumn's Pikachu, however, had no compunctions. He jumped into the air, his cheeks crackling with electricity as he prepared to blast the two Dark Types with a Thunderbolt.

But Crozier saw him. "Houndoom!" she shouted at her black dog-like Pokemon. "Leer at that Pikachu! Cacturne, use your Giga Drain!"

Houndoom's eyes glowed more intensely as he stared at Pikachu, a menacing expression etched on his face. Pikachu abruptly stopped charging electricity and stood rooted to the spot as Cacturne reached towards him. The latter's body was glowing as he prepared to siphon off the Pikachu's energy. "Pikachu!" cried Autumn, closing her eyes so she wouldn't have to watch her Pokemon get hurt.

"Two against one isn't fair!" shouted Jeremy. Had his Charmeleon been fit, he would have called him out and had him roast Crozier's Pokemon. But, as it was . . .

"Cacturne, do it now!" ordered Crozier, her face contorted with rage. These kids had caused Team Midnight no end of trouble: escaping, setting their Pokemon on agents, stealing uniforms . . . But she meant to get even with them. She would defeat their Pokemon one by one if need be.

But neither Cacturne nor Houndoom had chance to launch any Attacks. Suddenly, the floor of the facility shook violently in an undersea tremor, which caused both Pokemon to lose their balance and collapse in a heap. The humans too struggled to maintain their balance, instinctively grabbing hold of the nearest solid object in a bid to stay upright. Candida braced herself against the wall, with Ryan and his Elekid clinging to her, and closed her eyes, waiting for the tremor to pass.


It seemed to take forever, but it was actually no more than a few seconds before the shaking ceased. Candida opened her eyes slowly and looked around, taking stock of her surroundings. She could see the Team Midnight agents milling about, unsure what was happening or what they should do next. And, looking at the expressions on her friends faces, she knew they were thinking the same thing - what had caused the tremor?

"What the hell was that?!" demanded Jeremy.

"I don't know," replied Sandra. "But . . ." She was cut off abruptly as another tremor shook the undersea facility.

Panic ensued. Forgetting the youngsters for a moment, the Team Midnight agents turned tail and disappeared down the corridor, Crozier recalling her Pokemon as she ran. The woman scowled furiously and told herself that, whatever had caused the facility to shake would not be allowed to stop her from making these brats pay. She would alert Rich and have him crush these young upstarts; no-one had a Pokemon use Sleep Powder on her, no-one stole her uniform and got away with it.

Marc watched the agents go. "That's them out of the way," he said, once the last one had disappeared.

"Which still leaves us with one problem," Kelly reminded him. "The Rock of Darkness . . ."

"What about it?" Marc remembered sending his Squirtle out to dispose of the fragment Kevin had been forced to wear around his neck. But surely Squirtle must have done that by now . . .

"We still haven't disposed of it - not the whole thing." Kelly was growing concerned; every second the Rock of Darkness remained above the sea bed, its power over the Dark Type Pokemon grew stronger. Soon, stopping it would be about as easy as battling an Onix with a Pichu. And then there were the earthquakes - who knew what structural damage they had done to Aquarius?

Wilson heard the two youngsters talking. "Maybe you kids had better explain what's going on," he said. "For one thing, what is this Rock of Darkness?"


As the friends told their story, Wilson looked at them seriously. "That seems to explain what's been happening," he said when they had finished. "The question is, what do we do about it?"

"We could get everyone out of the mine," suggested Sandra.

"Yes, but we also need to stop Team Midnight's plans." Wilson heaved a sigh, wondering where and how his dreams of an underwater city had turned so sour. Why had he not been more thorough about checking applicants' backgrounds at the start of the Aquarius project? If he had done so, Team Midnight would never have been able to sneak in and . . . But it was no use dwelling on the past. The most important task right now was saving the people who had been dragged into this mess. "Here's what I think we should do," he added. "Candida and Autumn, you two get the Rock and dispose of it somehow. The rest of us will take care of Team Midnight."

There were some shouts of agreement and cries of "Down with Team Midnight!" from the assembled crowd. But, then, Kevin spoke up. "Wait a second - what am I supposed to do?" he asked. "You know what'll happen if I let my Pokemon out."

"You can wait with me at the Pokemon Centre," said Nurse Joy, briskly straightening her apron.

"Talking of the Pokemon Centre," Kelly said, holding up Drifter's Poke Ball, "I've got a Jumpluff here that needs healing."

"And you'd better heal my Charmeleon as well," added Jeremy.

"I'll get right to it." Nurse Joy pocketed the two Poke Balls and turned to go. Kelly and Jeremy followed her, both hoping that this wouldn't take too long as neither of them wanted to miss the action. Charmeleon's loss of energy should be easy to deal with, just a matter of rekindling his tail flame. But Drifter had taken extensive damage from Houndour's Flamethrower; there was no telling how long it would take for her powder puff to grow back.

Kevin sighed and followed them, wishing his Pokemon could be cured as easily. But he knew from what he had read that Sneasel, Houndour and Murkrow were not suffering from any condition that could be cured at a Pokemon Centre. Their only hope of regaining their true personalities lay in the disposal of the Rock of Darkness. He could imagine what it must be like for them; all the while he was being controlled, forced to do terrible things in the name of Team Midnight, a faint voice had kept telling him to stop, that this was wrong. But the influence of the Rock was stronger, too strong for him to resist.

"Good luck, guys," he said, turning to face his friends.

"You too, Kevin," said Autumn as her Pikachu hopped onto her shoulder.


Moving cautiously, Candida and Autumn slipped into Rich's office, keeping their eyes open for anything that might be the Rock of Darkness. Autumn shuddered, remembering her previous visit to this office, but shrugged it off and turned to her friend. "Any idea where it's likely to be?"

"Pika!" her Pikachu cried suddenly. He hopped off her shoulder and onto a nearby plinth. On the plinth, under a dome of glass, was a large black rock. This had to be it. This had to be the Rock of Darkness, the thing that had caused so much trouble.

Moving quickly lest a Team Midnight agent should come in and catch them, Candida slowly lifted the glass dome. But, just as she was reaching for the Rock, an alarm pierced the air, causing Autumn's Pikachu to scream and jump towards his trainer. "Oh no!" Candida cried above the wailing alarm, a single high-pitched note repeated over and over, the sound penetrating her very soul. She should have known this was too easy; Team Midnight would never leave something this important unguarded . . .

"Come on!" Autumn urged her from where she stood with her Pikachu.

Candida quickly tucked the Rock under her arm and ran, letting Togetic out as she did so. "Togetic," she called to the Flying Pokemon, "if you see any Team Midnight goons, give 'em your best Attacks. OK?"

Togetic nodded.

"You too, Pikachu," Autumn added. And, with that, they began to run with Togetic flying beside them and Pikachu riding on Autumn's shoulder, trying to ignore the piercing alarm and hoping that they would be able to get rid of the Rock of Darkness before they ran into any Team Midnight agents. They knew only too well what that group was capable of . . .


Against the odds, they managed to get to the nearest emergency exit without incident. But now they faced the problem of getting outside. They could open the airlock easily enough, but Candida's Lapras was too big to fit through the opening so they would have to get outside and then let her out. That, however, still left them with one problem - how were they going to breathe underwater? Lapras could - it was part of her nature, the way flying comes naturally to a Pidgey, Hoothoot or Taillow - but the two humans and the Pikachu would need Aquagears. And neither Candida nor Autumn had one.

"OK," Autumn sighed. "Now what do we do?"

"I don't know - turn into a couple of Water Types?"

Autumn shot Candida a stern look.

"OK! OK! Bad joke! But we've . . ." At that moment, Candida was cut off as another tremor shook the undersea complex. Both girls instinctively tried to brace themselves against the vibrating floor, struggling to stay on their feet as the ocean floor shook beneath their feet. Pikachu huddled in Autumn's arms and squealed.

"What the hell is going on?!" Autumn demanded.

"I don't know. But whatever it is, we've got to get rid of this thing!" Candida held up the Rock of Darkness.

"How? Neither of us has a Blastoise," Autumn said, reminding her of the story Kevin had told them.

Candida sighed deeply - they could be here for ages discussing this and every second they did so wasted precious time. "Then we'll just have to find another way," she said, running off with the Rock of Darkness under her arm and Togetic flying behind her.

"Candida! Wait!"

Candida barely heard Autumn's warning, but she wouldn't have heeded it anyway. All that mattered to her was putting the thing that had caused so much trouble out of commission . . .


She was so caught up in getting rid of the Rock that she failed to notice the three Team Midnight agents waiting round the next corner - until she ran straight into them. One of the agents caught hold of her by her wrist and pulled her towards himself, tightening his grip when she struggled to break free.

"Well now," he said menacingly. "What do we have here?"

Candida glanced up at her captor, whom she immediately recognised as Agent Tanner. His cold grey eyes bore into her as another of the agents reached forward to pluck the Rock out of her hands. "Candice, isn't it?" he asked her, looking her up and down disdainfully. "Leader of a band of rebels?"

"Candida," she corrected him, resisting the urge to spit in his face.

"Whatever . . ." Tanner shrugged his shoulders. "Soon, it won't matter what your name is." He shook her roughly. "You, my dear, are going into the Tank - and don't even think about escaping! We had it reinforced after your friend . . ."

Before Tanner could complete his sentence, another tremor shook the sea bed, sending everyone sprawling on the floor. Seizing her chance, Candida leapt to her feet and, grabbing the Rock of Darkness from a nearby agent, bolted down the corridor with Togetic flying after her. "Don't just sit there!" Tanner snarled at his fellow agents. "Stop her!"

Candida heard him and realised it was time to fight back. "Togetic!" she called to her Pokemon. "Give them your Hyperbeam!"

In response, Togetic turned to face the Team Midnight agents, her head glowing. Then, before any of them could stop her, she sent forth a blast of raw energy, a golden beam which exploded on contact with the nearest agent. Candida flung herself to the floor as she felt the explosion pass over her, then opened her eyes and sat up to see the agents lying unconscious. All but one . . .

"Foolish brat!" Tanner shouted defiantly as he staggered to his feet. "No-one can defeat Team . . ."

A sudden spinning jet of water silenced him. Marc's Squirtle had returned to Aquarius just in time to see the agents capture Candida and, having watched Togetic blast most of them with Hyperbeam, had finished the job with a Hydro Pump. That done, he popped out of his shell and winked at Candida. "Squirtle!" he cried triumphantly.

"Don't celebrate yet, Squirtle," Candida warned him. "We've still got a job to do." She held up the Rock of Darkness for him to see.


She remembered that there were maps of Aquarius at various points in the undersea complex - maybe they would help her find a way of disposing of the Rock. So, telling Squirtle to get back to Marc as quickly as possible, she headed off in the direction of the nearest map.

The tremors continued at intervals and she wondered what could be causing it. Something told her that this was not a natural phenomenon - could Team Midnight have caused it somehow? She did not know, but what she did know was that . . .

Suddenly, the undersea complex was rocked by the strongest tremor yet. Candida fell to the floor, feeling it shaking underneath her as she vainly struggled to stand. Then, as she crouched there waiting for the shaking to subside, a crack opened up in the perspex wall as it succumbed to the pressure caused by the tremors. Water flooded in, sweeping her several feet down the corridor.

"Lapras! Save me!" she called as she activated the Poke Ball containing her Water/Ice Pokemon.