Chapter Six

Candida, Marc and Jeremy wasted no time in finding the others; they knew Autumn was in serious trouble and, unless they could stop Team Midnight, the whole of Aquarius would be as well. Fortunately, Kelly, Sandra and Kevin had all made it back safely and were in Kevin's family's module when the other three tracked them down.

"Kelly!" Jeremy shouted the second he saw his sister. "Team Midnight . . . they're in Aquarius!"

Kelly rolled her eyes, convinced this was another of his tall tales, and went back to grooming her Delibird. "Haven't you caused enough trouble today?" she asked witheringly as the red Ice/Flying Pokemon hopped off her lap. "You'll only make matters worse if you go round saying stuff like that. Besides . . ."

"It's true," Candida assured her, picking up Autumn's Pikachu and holding him close to her chest. "We overheard some of them talking. Then, we tried to get away so we could warn you, but one of them got Autumn . . ." She trailed off, unsure how to express the uncertainties she felt at not knowing what Team Midnight had done to Autumn or even where they were holding her.

"Got Autumn?" Sandra echoed. "Where?"

"I don't know - and we don't have any way of finding out," Candida informed her. The severity of the situation was beginning to hit home to her; even though she still had no idea what all this was about, she knew it had to be something really big or Team Midnight wouldn't have captured Autumn. The others had to find her and help her, but how could they do that without any idea where to look? Aquarius was a big place, covering a vast area of ocean floor . . .

Kelly pulled out the Poke Ball that housed her Clefable, Pinky, and examined it briefly. "Maybe, we do," she said enigmatically. "Maybe, Pinky can help us . . ."

"How could a Clefable help?" Kevin asked, his hands instinctively straying to the Poke Balls that housed his Murkrow, Sneasel and Houndour. "They're not Psychic Pokemon for one thing and . . ."

"But they can learn Psychic," Kelly reminded him. She had made a point of teaching all her Pokemon as wide a range of moves as possible. When it came to Pokemon battles, using moves not of a Pokemon's particular Type often provided an element of surprise and many a Fighting Pokemon trainer had gone into battle against Pinky confident of an easy win against the Normal Type Clefable, only for a well-aimed Psychic Attack to scupper their strategy.

Kelly quickly released Pinky and told the Clefable to use Psychic to try and pinpoint where Autumn was. In response, Pinky closed her eyes and slowly began to glow with a blue light that, had she been using Psychic in battle, would have concentrated itself into a blast of mental energy powerful enough to knock most opponents off their feet. In a non-combat situation, however, the light remained diffused and gentle, almost as if the Clefable was meditating . . .

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Inside the Tank, the water had reached Autumn's waist and she was repeatedly telling herself that, no matter what Team Midnight did to her, she would not betray her friends. Even as her trousers were soaked through and began to cling uncomfortably to her skin, she remained determined not to give in and allow those - she searched for the right word - swine the satisfaction of seeing her grovel. Since the water had nowhere to drain, this small room would continue to fill up until the description of it as a "Tank" proved chillingly accurate, but Autumn wasn't worried about that for the time being. She was a good swimmer so she should be able to tread water at least for a while . . .

Suddenly, as she floundered about now chest-deep in water, she felt something in her mind. Thoughts that weren't her own seemed to have entered her head and something told her that these weren't even human thoughts. They were the thoughts of a Pokemon, a Clefable, who seemed to be trying to find out where she was. It was then that she remembered that Kelly had a Clefable and, even though they were not Psychic Types, Clefables could learn Psychic. Kelly must have told Pinky - which, Autumn remembered, was the name of her Clefable - to try and find her by using Psychic.

Desperately, she tried to reply to the Clefable-thoughts that had penetrated her mind. Having never attempted to communicate telepathically before, she wasn't entirely sure how to go about it, but, from what she remembered of how the subject was dealt with in fiction, concentration seemed to be the key. So she tried to empty her mind of all thoughts not essential to her immediate situation - not an easy task when impressions of her parents and her Pikachu kept flittering into her head. Would she ever see them again?

Not unless she could tell Pinky where she was . . . So she thought as hard as she could, hoping against hope that the Clefable would be able to convey the message to the others. "I'm in a . . . thing called a Tank," she finally managed. "This Team Midnight Exec called Rich put me here . . . It's filling with water! Hurry!"

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"Well?" Kelly asked as the Psychic connection between Pinky and Autumn broke and the light surrounding the Clefable faded. "Did you manage to make contact?"

Pinky nodded resolutely. "Fable," she said in her enchantingly musical voice. Then, realising the urgency of the situation, she grabbed Kelly by the hand and attempted to pull her to her feet. "Fable fable clefableable!" she said urgently, trying to tell her trainer that Autumn was trapped in a room that was filling with water. Kelly and the others had to hurry and find their friend before it was too late.

"What's up, Pinky?" asked Kelly, stroking the Clefable gently. Pinky had been Kelly's first Pokemon; she found her as a lost Cleffa near Mount Moon and took the small Pokemon under her wing, carefully raising her until she evolved into a Clefairy. A Pokemon journey followed, during which Kelly acquired her other three Pokemon and evolved Pinky into a Clefable using a Moon Stone she was fortunate enough to find on her travels. Pinky did not know human language - few Pokemon ever learnt to speak and most of those that did never mastered more than a few words - but, like all good trainers, Kelly was able to interpret what her Pokemon was trying to say.

"Clefable fable!" Pinky said urgently. "Fable clef!" It was hard to translate Pokemon speech exactly, but what she was basically saying was: "C'mon - Autumn needs us! Hurry or she'll drown!"

"Drown?" echoed Kelly as if Pinky had spoken to her in English. Autumn's Pikachu clung to Candida and whimpered as he heard the danger his trainer was in. "Where is she?" Kelly asked next, an urgent tone in her voice.

"Clefable!" Pinky responded.

"In a tank?" asked Kelly. "You mean like an aquarium?"

Pinky nodded again and the youngsters exchanged uneasy glances. They had to find this "tank" fast, but they did not know where to begin looking. Not that Kevin was about to let that stop him - he quickly grabbed his Poke Balls and dashed off, intent on acting the hero. But he didn't get far before Sandra grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back.

"Where do you think you're going?" she demanded.

"To rescue Autumn," Kevin replied.

"Without stopping to work out where they've got her?" Sandra countered. "Think about it, damn it! Team Midnight aren't likely to have her in any public areas - it's more likely she'll be in some place we're not allowed in . . ."

"Changed your tune, haven't you?" Jeremy said sarcastically as he stood tossing his Charmeleon's Poke Ball into the air and catching it again. "Before, you girls were trying to stop us from breaking . . ."

"This is different," Candida reminded him. "Team Midnight has one of us and we've got to get her out before it's too late. But we can't do that if we keep arguing. Now," she added when the others had fallen silent, "let's try and figure out how we're going to get in there."

"Well, if my guess is right, Team Midnight are bound to be looking out for anyone snooping round out of bounds," Sandra said. "So that leaves the route we took this morning out . . ." She paused and tried to think of alternate routes into the core of Aquarius, but only one seemed feasible. "Run back to your modules and grab your Aquagear," she said at last. "Looks like we'll have to go for a swim."

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Everyone in Aquarius had been issued with an Aquagear, underwater breathing apparatus to be used if it was ever necessary to leave Aquarius via one of the underwater emergency exits. As she took the perspex mask, rubber tube and oxygen cylinder out of her cupboard, Candida recalled the classes that had been given at the beginning of this project to teach people how to use the equipment. "Never thought I'd be using this for real so soon," she said out loud.

As she hurried out of the room, she made sure she had her Lapras' Poke Ball with her. It never hurt to have a Pokemon on standby and this was a situation that called for Water Pokemon. She took stock of all the Water Pokemon she and her friends had - she had Lapras, Marc had Seadra and Squirtle and Sandra had Wooper and Dratini; the latter wasn't a Water Pokemon, but she did know a couple of Water Attacks.

Just as she was hurrying out into the corridor, she ran into Ryan who immediately began to bombard her with questions about what she was doing and why she needed her Aquagear. "I can't explain now," she said, trying to push him out of the way. "I'm in kind of a rush . . ."

"Can I help you?" Ryan asked hopefully, gazing up at his older sister. He had no idea of the seriousness of the situation, of the danger that Autumn was now in - and nor was he aware that Team Midnight had infiltrated Aquarius. So far, the only people who knew were Candida and her friends and they had to find out exactly what was going on. But they first had a more pressing problem to deal with . . .

"Yes," Candida said at last. "You can help by staying in the module and not getting unfer my feet - this is something that's not for kids." She bent down to look at Autumn's Pikachu, who was clinging to her leg, and picked the small Electric Pokemon up in her arms. "And you can also keep an eye on this Pikachu while I'm gone - let it play with Elekid or something."

Ryan muttered something, but Candida didn't hear what he said since she was already racing down the corridor.

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When the friends met up at the nearest emergency exit, Sandra outlined what they were going to do. "OK, remember what they taught us in our safety drills?" she said. "Strap on your Aquagear, open the hatch and swim out." The others all nodded and Sandra smiled before continuing with her pep talk. "Once we're out, we'll let out our Water Pokemon and have them keep an eye on things while we get to Autumn. Was Pinky able to work out where she's likely to be?" she asked Kelly.

"Yes - somewhere in the West Section," said Kelly. "That's where most of the out-of-bounds areas are . . ."

"Then west is where we'll have to go," Kevin said resolutely as he donned his Aquagear and stood looking rather bizarre with a rubber tube in his mouth and a perspex mask over his eyes. He tried to say something with the tube in his mouth, but all the others heard was a muffled "Mm-ay m-mn" that could have meant any number of things.

"Pardon?" said Marc, who had the Poke Balls containing his Seadra and Squirtle ready for when they would shortly be needed. Kevin blushed with embarrassment and pulled the tube out of his mouth before repeating himself.

"OK, come on!" he urged the others, who had no difficulty understanding him this time. Without wasting any more time, they fastened on their Aquagears and, once Jeremy had opened the emergency exit, swam out into a bizarre underwater world. It was like nothing they had experienced before - even seeing the world of the ocean through the windows in Aquarius had done little to prepare them for the reality of swimming deep in the ocean.

They adjusted their Aquagears to allow them to talk, albeit in a slightly echoey way, and swam off in single file, skirting the outside of the undersea complex. All they had to do now was work out which direction was west, not an easy task when they didn't have the sun to guide them - luckily, Kevin had a compass with him so they used that to guide them. "OK," he said, holding the compass up. "The needle's pointing to the left and a compass always points north - so that means west must be that way." He indicated the direction with a wave of his hand.

As she swam, Candida observed many wild Water Pokemon swimming around outside Aquarius. Two Starmies span through the water, their jewels shining brightly, while a Dewgong and a Sealeo played together, riding an underwater current and a shoal of Magikarp bunched together and swam in perfect harmony as if they were a team of synchronised swimmers . . . In short, there were sea-dwelling Pokemon everywhere she looked, although most of them didn't seem too bothered by the intrusion of a group of humans into their world. For a split second, she thought she caught a glimpse of Lugia, the Legendary Pokemon said to range the oceans, but she only saw a shadow and that disappeared within seconds.

"Hurry up, Candida!" Marc ordered when he saw her staring at a Seel and its pup. "We've got to get to Autumn! We can't waste time Pokemon-watching!"

Candida muttered a hasty apology and swam off after the others. He was right, of course - this was hardly the time to be watching Pokemon, not while Autumn was in danger. Hopefully, once all this was over, she would be able to come down here and watch undersea Pokemon at her leisure.

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In the Tank, the water was now nearly as high as the ceiling and the relentless deluge still showed no sign of abating. Autumn clung to a pipe on the ceiling in a desperate bid to keep her head above water, but her fingers had become numb and she was beginning to lose her grip. It was only a matter of time . . .

Should she give in and agree to Rich's terms? That thought briefly entered her mind, but she dismissed it almost immediately; there was no way she would betray her friends by selling them out to Team Midnight. Even if doing so was the only way to save herself . . .

Then, just when she was beginning to think all was lost, Marc's head broke the surface, swiftly followed by Sandra's. The latter swam over to Autumn and gently eased her away from the pipe she had been clinging to. "It's OK, Autumn - I got you," Sandra whispered as she supported her exhausted Friend's head.

"H - how did you . . .?" Autumn tried to say.

"Get in here? We figured out where you'd be with a little help from Kelly's Clefable. Then, we all swam out of Aquarius and, when we guessed we were in the right place, Wooper and Marc's Squirtle dug a tunnel on the ocean floor and we all swam up it - lucky it came out here, eh?" While Sandra spoke, Kelly, Jeremy, Candida and Kevin all broke the surface until all seven of the companions were reunited. But that still left one pressing problem.

"Er . . . how are we going to get out of here?" asked Jeremy. "Autumn doesn't have an Aquagear with her for one thing . . ."

Candida had the answer - or at least a temporary solution. She pulled out her Lapras' Poke Ball and summoned the large blue Water Pokemon. "Get on Lapras' back!" she ordered as she hauled herself onto the Pokemon's shell. "And hurry!" she added as she glanced at the door and noticed it was beginning to buckle under the pressure of the water flooding the room. "That door can't hold out much longer!"

Sure enough, almost as soon as they were all on Lapras' back, the water pressure grew too great for the door to withstand and it burst open, sending seven humans and a Lapras cascading out into the corridor.

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Nearby, two Team Midnight agents looked up with a start when they heard the collective yell of seven teenagers caught on a wild and unexpected water ride. "What was that?" asked one of them, his hand instinctively reaching for the Poke Ball that housed his Gengar.

"It came from the corridor where Rich stashed that kid in the Tank," his companion said as he looked up from grooming his Shiftry. With that, he hurried off to investigate with the Shiftry following hot on his heels, but all he found when he got to the corridor in question was a flooded floor and a door forced open by an excess of water pressure behind it. Candida and her companions had had the presence of mind to get clear of the scene before anyone unwelcome showed up. There was no sign of the girl who had been caught earlier in the day, so she had to still be alive - had she drowned, her body would surely have been somewhere nearby . . .

"What?!" the man cursed. "How dare that brat escape?! And on my shift too! If Rich hears about this . . ."

Before he could continue, the communicator he carried in his pocket began bleeping. He switched it on and immediately heard Rich's voice giving instructions to all Team Midnight members in Aquarius. "Word has come through from HQ - the Plan will commence tonight," he informed his underlings. "By morning, all these fools will be our slaves."

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A quick check-up at the medical facility did not reveal any serious injuries to Autumn, although she was chilled as a result of being in the water for so long. The medics told Candida, who had been the one who brought Autumn in, to take her back to her Module so she could rest up.

As she and Autumn, clad in white bathrobes since their wet clothes were being aired out in the laundry, hurried down the corridor, Candida felt a sense of relief that none of the others had wanted to come to the medical facility with her and Autumn, instead choosing to head back to their modules. It made her story that Autumn had slipped and fallen into the swimming pool - which was closed at this hour - seem less like to be disbelieved. All they could do now was hope no-one would start asking questions.

Little did she know what lay in store that night . . .