Welcome to Gaia! ::

Andarien bit his lip to keep from whimpering, but he could feel the tears in his eyes, and he had to fight to keep them from falling.

Everyone was far enough away from the ladder that when a foot finally broke through the trapdoor and let the light shine down, no one was visible.

"Bring the others!" a voice above them ordered, clearly talking to someone else up there. "We'll search below as soon as they're all here!"

In the darkness, Mari suddenly appeared next to Lin and put one hand on her shoulder, hoping she wouldn't startle her.

"Let them all come down and let me make the first move," she whispered into Lin's ear as quietly as she could. "Have your son attack them with his Pokemon after that. But make sure no one does anything until after I make the first move."

Without waiting for a response, she vanished silently and moved on to the next person.

While Andarien trusted Eon the most, he knew that Zeus's attacks would be the most effective in the situation, and he felt at his waist for the Jolteon's Pokeball. Once he had it, he cradled it in his hand, one finger poised above its button, ready to release Zeus at just the right moment.

Above them, the orders continued.

"Go down one at a time and wait at the bottom until we're all there. We'll coordinate again when we know what's down there."

A moment later, a foot appeared on the top rung of the ladder, and a metal-clad soldier began to descend.

As the first soldier descended, from above came the sound of something soft hitting against metal.

"Hold him!" ordered the man who was obviously in charge. "If he causes any trouble, break his legs! But whatever you do, don't kill him. The General will want him for questioning."

By this time, the first soldier had reached the bottom, and the light from above reflected faintly off his helmet. He looked around and moved in a slow circle, but he didn't leave the small circle of light from above, and it was clear that he couldn't see anything in the darkness.

Very soon, two more soldiers were down, and they could see the shadow of another at the top of the ladder.

"You're sure you can hold him by yourself?" came the voice of the one who had been giving the orders so far.

"Yes, Commander," came the reply. "Go. I'll shout if anything happens up here."

The shadow at the top of the ladder started down, and the three at the bottom moved out of the way to make room for him, though they were still visible to those hiding in the darkness. They made a triangle around the ladder, their backs to each other, facing outwards in a protective formation.

Suddenly there was a slight squawk as one of them was pulled into the inky blackness and disappeared without any further noise. Taking his cue, Andarien released Zeus from his Pokeball.

"Thundershock!" he cried; and there was a flash of lightning and a deafening clap of thunder, and another of the men fell to the ground, smoke rising from the gaps in his armour.

At the same time as this was happening, Lancaeriel was preparing her own attack: her hands braced as if surrounding something spherical in shape, she drew on her power and summoned a bright white light. She launched it at the man who was still descending the ladder, and it seared through the ladder and through him - armour, body and all - before disintegrating in the air.

From above, there came sounds of a struggle. The man being burned by Yasu was screaming and writhing on the floor, and Mari darted forward, took his head in both hands, and with a quick, powerful wrench, put him out of his misery.

"Kasal!" she said in a commanding voice, rising and raising one arm towards the now inaccessible trap door above them. "Help Chesnet!"

There was a surge of light, and the dragon seemed to melt out of Mari's fingertips. Wings beating powerfully, he surged upwards and vanished out of the sight of those below. There was a yowl and a shriek, and then silence.

"There's only one way to find out," Mari muttered. "We need light, and you need to get all of your things together. Everything. As fast as you can. I'll be back."

She called for her dragon again, and once the two of them had bonded, she took off at a run, heading back in the direction they'd come from and leaving everyone else behind.

"Zeus, use Flash," Andarien told the Jolteon quietly. He covered his eyes to protect them from the sudden flash of light, and when he looked again the underground area was as light as if the sun were shining above them.

Iadrim and her brothers were huddled together at the farthest end of the room, where there was a desk and mounds of papers, and when the light appeared, they started back towards the others.

"Is it all over?" Iadrim asked hopefully, clinging tightly to her brothers' hands.

The group of travelers began to pack their things again, but Andarien found his hands were shaking too badly to be able to do much. He kept fumbling and dropping things, and he had to pause every few seconds to wipe his eyes with the back of his hand. He tried to turn his back to the bodies that were on the floor - smoking, burning, dripping with blood - but it didn't seem to help.

Ruaven put one arm around Iadrim's shoulders. "Come on, we should make sure Mother is all right."

"Don't go anywhere!" came Chesnet's voice from above them, and his head appeared at the top of the ladder. "There were only two more soldiers and your mother's safe with Kyrie. You stay here where we know where you are!"

He paused and looked around as if searching for something, but when he didn't find what he was looking for, he looked back down the ladder. "I can't get down there - I think I smell smoke, does someone down there have fire?"

"Pff." Chesnet sniffed. "Smells like Mari's cooking. Burnt."

"Hardly good taste, sir," Lancaeriel chided the man flatly. "We have some rather traumatized people down here."

"Right, sorry about that." The man sounded genuinely sorry. "Reason I asked. I can see you've got light down there now. Do you see a desk with enough paper to fill a library?"