"Some adventure this is!" Candida muttered as she toiled endlessly at the monotonous job of digging in the undersea cave. Her hands were chapped and aching from handling the rocks and her back was stiff from the constant bending and lifting. But she dared not stop work for a second; if she was caught slacking, the nearest Team Midnight member was sure to punish her. The only hope for the people of Aquarius seemed to lie in the ARM, but setting up such a group was always a risky venture as you never knew how long it would take for the organisation you were trying to rebel against to cotton on to your plans.
Team Midnight certainly had a few bases covered. Their returning Pokemon to their rightful trainers had, she realised, been a "morale-boosting" exercise designed to keep their workers happy and lessen the chances of rebellion. But it was clear that any sign of trouble would lead to the Pokemon being confiscated again - and she didn't want to think about what they might to do Lapras and Togetic in that eventuality . . .
Candida winced as a burly Team Midnight agent prodded her with the stick he carried under one arm like a big game hunter with a gun. "Quit dreaming, girl!" he barked. "We ain't got all day and you're falling behind!" He swung his stick threateningly to show her what happened to slackers.
"All right! Sorry!" She forced herself to get back to work, her mind focussed on only one thing - a way to make these Team Midnight bigshots pay. From what she had seen of them so far, they liked nothing better than ordering people about, forcing them to work against their will for a cause she still didn't understand. If only there was some means of spying on them . . .
"I hope they don't find that keychain Autumn hid," she thought to herself. If they did, if they found out they had been in touch with the men, the consequences would be severe. And things had been bad enough already since Team Midnight took over; the entire population was forced to work for hours on ending, searching the undersea caves for some unknown artifact or artifacts. Candida sighed heavily and promised herself that, no matter what happened, Team Midnight could not be allowed to get away with this.
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Nearby, Kevin was also making silent vows of vengeance. He had not seen Murkrow, Sneasel or Houndour for some time; in fact, none of the Dark or Poison Type Pokemon in Aquarius had been returned to their rightful owners. And that gave him cause for concern - why would they return all the other Pokemon but keep the Dark and Poison Types? Did they have some plan that involved those Pokemon?
Somehow, he had to find out. But, like Candida, he was worried about what would happen if they were caught spying. They had already had one narrow escape and could ill-afford to take any unnecessary risks right now . . .
Glancing up, he saw Candida labouring nearby, her fair hair tangled and unkempt from the hardships she had endured. Briefly, he wondered if he should risk it. What if a Team Midnight agent caught them? With his Pokemon confiscated, he had nothing to lose, but, judging by the fact that Marc and Jeremy had had their Pokemon returned, Candida's Lapras and Togetic were probably back in her possession. Even so . . .
Casually, so it appeared he was simply looking for a fresh area to search, he made his way over to her and tapped her on the shoulder. "Candida?" he ventured.
She turned round with a start. "What?"
"Just wanted to let you know I hate these Team Midnight bozos too. And I've been wondering . . ."
He got no further before a nearby Team Midnight agent landed him a vicious blow with his stick, putting the full weight of his arm behind the blow. "Quit your yapping!" he snarled as he moved in for another stroke, watching in satisfaction as Kevin tried to squirm out of the way. Candida watched helplessly as he continued to rain blows down on her friend - she wanted to intervene but did not dare to for fear of being beaten herself. "You worthless little grub!" the agent taunted. "If I catch you talking again, you're dead meat!" With that, he spat on the ground to express his contempt and marched off.
Candida waited until the bullying guard was gone before cautiously creeping across to where Kevin lay sprawled on the ground. He coughed to get rid of a mouthful of dust he'd received when the guard knocked him to the ground and staggered to his feet, painfully aware of the welts left in the cane's wake. "Are you OK?" Candida asked him as he clung to her for support.
"Yes, I - I think so." He brushed as much dirt off his clothes as he could. "Candida, we got that note Autumn sent," he went on as she nodded approvingly. "And I agree that we need to sort these . . ." He rejected the word he had originally planned to say in favour of something milder. " . . . jerks out."
"But how? Team Midnight have us guarded like priceless jewels - too bad they don't treat us like them!" Candida was getting anxious; if another Team Midnight agent came along . . .
"Didn't stop Autumn's Pikachu."
"Kevin, please!" Candida said, shaking her head. "It's too risky right now - what if we got caught and they took our Pokemon again?" She wrung her hands as she thought of the Lapras she had had for as long as she could remember being seized by the tyrants who had taken control of the underwater complex. Like many trainers, she had developed a close bond with both her Pokemon and was not about to risk them until the ARM was better organised and had devised a Team Midnight-proof means of communicating.
"At times like this, you have to take risks," Kevin told her. He looked at her gravely. "Candida, my Pokemon weren't returned - none of the Dark and Poison Types were . . ."
"So?"
"So my guess is that our "friends" have something planned and it has to do with Dark and Poison Pokemon. Listen . . ."
He got no further before the Team Midnight agent called Tanner appeared on the scene and gave him a brutal kick in the backside. Then, before Kevin could stop him, he shoved Candida to the ground and aimed a kick at her. She just managed to dodge it, but Tanner made no move to try again. Instead, he looked at the pair coldly.
"Think you're clever, don't you?" he smirked, folding his arms across his chest. "Well, let me tell you something - kids who think they're clever get punished. You're both on half-rations for a week."
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Half-rations meant just that - half the amount of food that was normally dished out. And, under Team Midnight, that was meagre enough, a plate of some unidentifiable stew dished out twice a day along with a slice of bread and a cup of water.
When two Team Midnight agents brought food to the women and children on Candida's shift, they forced Candida to wait until everyone else had received their rations before serving her. Then, they thrust the bread and water into her hands and placed what little stew was left on her plate. It looked thin and watery with only a few scraps of solid food visible and she wondered how she would endure a week of such awful fare.
"Tanner's orders," one of the two agents said shortly. "Maybe a little hunger will teach you some respect."
Candida was about to say something but decided it would be wiser to keep quiet for fear of being denied even these meagre rations. She sat down on the floor, tore up her bread to make the stew go further and was about to start eating her "meal" when a sudden noise from overhead made her look up. A Squirtle, Marc's Squirtle, was peering out of the ventilation shaft.
"Squirtle!" he called. Candida knew he was asking her to get him down so she got up, dragged a nearby chair over to the shaft and climbed on it so she could reach the Squirtle. It was as she lifted him down that she noticed something was written on his shell:
Meeting tonight
She read those two words in silence, wondering as she did so where they were to meet. She knew it had to be Kevin, Marc and Jeremy who had organised this meeting, but where could they hold it without being caught by Team Midnight? She and Kevin were on half-rations already; they could not afford to risk further punishment.
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"I don't know what we should do either," Autumn said as Candida explained the problem over their frugal meal. The former's Pikachu was perched on his trainer's shoulder, his once bright black eyes dull after several days of living on Team Midnight rations. Autumn lifted him down and looked at him sadly. "Team Midnight have us trapped - anyone who rebels risks losing their Pokemon . . ."
Candida gazed down at Lapras and Togetic's Poke Balls, thinking of the day she and her family first arrived in Aquarius to spend a year living under the ocean. She had thought then that it would be an adventure, but now . . . Now everyone was a prisoner, forced to dig their way through the undersea cave in search of some unknown treasure. She sighed heavily; things were beginning to look grim.
"I couldn't stand it if anything happened to Lapras and Togetic," she said at length. "But we may not have much choice, not if we want to stop Team Midnight. Listen, I got talking to Kevin earlier and he says . . ."
"What does he say?" Autumn cut in, patting her Pikachu's head as she spoke.
"He says Team Midnight have retained all the Dark and Poison Types. And that makes me wonder - could whatever they're planning have to do with those Types?"
"That's something we can add to our list of things to find out," suggested Autumn. She had been mentally making a list of things they needed to know about Team Midnight's plans and, if at all possible, how to scupper them and Candida's news gave her added cause for concern. Why had Team Midnight kept all the Dark and Poison Type Pokemon? For the agents to train? Somehow she doubted that, even though members of Team Midnight seemed to specialise in these Types.
"First, we need to find somewhere to meet without being seen," Candida reminded her. "And . . ."
She was cut off by an impatient "Squirtle squirt!" from nearby and looked down to find Marc's Squirtle standing beside her. She and Autumn had forgotten he was there until he reminded them. Glancing at the ventilation shaft, she noted that the grill was large enough for a small or medium-sized Pokemon, but, unlike the shaft she and the others had been in earlier, there was no way a human could fit. Still, it might be a useful means of communicating with the boys . . .
"You'd better get out of sight, Squirtle," she told the Pokemon. She picked him up and carried him over to the vent. "If a Team Midnight agent catches you . . ." She shuddered at the thought as she climbed onto the chair and place the Squirtle back in the vent.
Nearby, Sandra clasped her Dratini's Poke Ball tightly. She had overheard what Candida said and it alarmed her greatly. If Team Midnight found out Dratini knew Toxic, they would take the Dragon Pokemon away from her . . .
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Candida was dozing fitfully when she began to dream that she was on Lapras' back a fair distance from the shore. Suddenly, Lapras disappeared into her Poke Ball with a flash, leaving Candida struggling in the water. Too far from shore to swim, she tried to call Lapras back out of her Poke Ball - unfortunately, she dropped it just as she was about to press the button to activate it. Instinctively, she dived down after it, but it seemed that, no matter how deep she swam, the Poke Ball was always just out of reach. Her head was beginning to throb from lack of oxygen and she wanted desperately to take a breath of air. And, when she tried to swim to the surface, she found that she couldn't - something seemed to be drawing her inexorably downwards. Then she felt her nose being pinched by invisible fingers and vaguely heard someone calling her name.
"Candida!"
She opened her eyes to find Jeremy standing over her with his Charmeleon's Poke Ball in his hand. "Hey! What's the big idea?!" she demanded as she realised he must have been the one who grabbed her nose. "How did you get past the guards?"
"Charmeleon Smokescreened the corridor," Jeremy told her. "It'll take them at least a couple of hours to get it cleared. Anyway, are you coming to the meeting or not?"
"You've found a place to meet?" It was Autumn, who had woken to the sound of Jeremy's voice. "Where?"
Jeremy tapped his nose mysteriously. "You'll find out when you get there. Now, wake Kelly and Sandra and come on."
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Within moments, the little group of youngsters was slipping through the corridor on their way to their secret meeting place. A shiver of excitement went up Candida's spine as she thought of what a big risk they were taking. Team Midnight were not to be trifled with, as she had recently learned only too well, and if they found out about the ARM . . . She gripped Lapras and Togetic's Poke Balls and silently vowed that, no matter what happened, she would not lose her Pokemon a second time.
"Well?" Kelly asked at length, noting that the air in the corridor seemed suspiciously clear. "Where's all this smoke you promised?"
Jeremy grinned at his sister. "Well away from where we'll be meeting," he told her. "I don't know about you, but I like to be able to breathe."
"You still haven't said where we'll meet," Sandra said as Jeremy led them down another corridor. It was lit by light fittings in the ceiling, but most of the bulbs seemed to have gone, leaving several areas in semi-darkness. "Whoever the janitor is round here," she added, "they're not doing a very good job." She pointed ahead to where a bulb flashed and crackled, trying with its failing energy to stay lit.
"Pika!" Autumn's Pikachu leapt off her shoulder and looked as though he was about to use Flash to light the dingy corridor. But, before he coud do so, Autumn picked him up and held him close to her chest.
"No, Pikachu," she whispered. "No Flashing - we can't afford to attract attention." All the same, she wished they could be somewhere with proper lighting, not in this semi-dark place. Since Team Midnight's coup, even the sight of the sun through the perspex tunnels that linked Aquarius together had been denied to everyone and she wondered if she would ever see it again . . .
"Autumn! Come on!" It was Jeremy calling from further up. Kelly, Sandra and Candida were with him, as were Kevin and Marc. All six youngsters were crammed into a tiny broom cupboard, the only source of light being the dimly lit corridor. Hurrying over to them, Autumn saw that Jeremy was standing just inside the corridor while the others stood or sat in the narrow space. Sandra and Marc sat on upturned buckets, Candida, Kevin and Kelly on the floor.
Kelly shifted her position to make room and Autumn sat down. Her Pikachu took up his favourite position on her shoulder as she glanced round at everyone anxiously. "Er . . . shouldn't we close the door?" she asked. "If anyone comes . . ."
"I'm way ahead of you," said Kevin. He got up and shut the door slightly, allowing a large enough gap to let in the meagre amount of light available. Then, to make sure the door couldn't close on them completely, he wedged it with a broom. "So," he added as he sat back down, "what's first on the agenda?"
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Sitting in almost total darkness made Candida feel like she was part of a criminal gang. She smiled at the irony - skulking around in places like this was just the sort of thing Team Midnight agents would do. And now, in order to plan their campaign of resistance, she and her friends had been forced to conceal their activities from the ever-watchful guards. Clandestine meetings were the only way they could find out anything.
"I think the first thing we need to do is find out exactly what Team Midnight are forcing us to look for," she volunteered. It wasn't much, but it was all she could think of to contribute. She sighed, wishing she had more to offer, and waited to hear what the others had to say.
"That could be easier said than done," said Sandra. "Team Midnight aren't exactly gonna come right out and tell us." She thought grimly of the times someone had demanded to know why Team Midnight was forcing everyone to work so hard, only to be answered with gruff orders to "mind their own business".
"Well, there's still the question of the Dark and Poison Pokemon," Kevin said. "If we can find out where they're being kept . . ." He paused as he thought of his own Pokemon - the Houndour he had raised from a puppy, the Murkrow given to him by a girl in Goldenrod in trade for an Illumise and the Sneasel he had caught only weeks before coming to Aquarius. " . . . we might be able to find out what Team Midnight have planned for them."
Sandra sighed. "If you boys want to go snooping again, you can leave me out of it," she told him. She still hadn't forgotten the trouble the three boys had caused when they decided to sneak behind the scenes at the undersea complex and, even though she hated Team Midnight as much as the others, she wanted no further part in such things. The others could do what they liked, but she would find another way to resist Team Midnight.
"This is different," Marc pointed out. "And . . ." He broke off suddenly as footsteps echoed outside.
"What?" the others demanded in unison.
"Someone's coming . . ."