Chapter Twelve: The Rocket Base Revealed. 

Ponyta galloped as fast as she could out of that hall and onto the damp grass outside. Once we got onto the hard gravel road, we didn't have a clue where to go. Normally I would have sent out Pidgeotto to help find where all my friends were but now, she was with them, somewhere. 

"Ponyta," I decided. "To the left! Come on!" She turned and galloped down the path further than the busses would go. There were trees along each side of the road, and in the dim light of the moon, they created shadows and eerie light reflections. The flames of Ponyta's mane lit the road dimly, as she trotted on, and I'm not going to deny the fact that I was scared. 

We rode on, following some tracks in the road, until we came face to face with a cave, with a letterbox in front of it. Strange. The number was 668, and it shone out from the letterbox. No wonder, I thought. They were the neighbours of the devil. 

"Are you ready to go in?" I asked Ponyta. She whinnied in response, and we entered the cave. I let Charmeleon out as well and we walked through a narrow passageway, our only light being the flames of my pokemon. 

"Char?" Charmeleon called. 

"Mathew!" I called. "Robert! Dion!" 

"Pony!" Ponyta hissed. 

"Ponyta's right," I said. "We shouldn't be too loud. If we are, we could get caught too."

"Char Charmeleon Char," Charmeleon responded in protest. It seemed to be pointing down to the floor. I looked down and saw what Charmeleon had been pointing too. There was a crack in the stone floor that seemed to be in the shape of a circle. I understood what Charmeleon thought, and stood back, knelt down and slid my fingers into the gap, feeling for a switch. 

"A ha!" I cried in triumph. My fingers felt a small hard button, and I pushed it hard. The stone floor went down like an elevator, and I jumped onto it with Charmeleon and Ponyta. 

The elevator led us down to a warmer room, with rows and rows of cages. Some were smaller than others, but to the right, were big cells, big enough to fit humans. I gasped as the stone elevator rose and fitted once again perfectly into the floor. In the cages, as the flames lit the way, were my friends, and other sixth graders. The pokemon were there too, all locked up in cages. I was confused, scared, unsure of what to do. 

I knew one thing for sure.

Team Rocket weren't nice guys.