Pokémon chapter 3 – Base exploration (Patreon)

Whilst Latro was roaming around Unova to snatch up several famous Pokémon trainers, the ones he already held captive weren’t exactly sitting idly by to wait for his return.

All of them had grown restless and impatient after several hours of just sitting and trying to find a pose that wouldn’t put pressure on their many and varied restraints.

There HAS to be a way out of this! Sabrina thought angrily. No WAY am I spending the next few days locked up as some high-security criminal. God knows how long that son of a Bibarel will be out touring Unova!

Flannery, Misty and Clair seemed to agree, because the three young women had been fidgeting with their bondage for the past half hour. They hadn’t made much progress on their own, and the temptation of activating that time-out switch grew larger with each failed attempt. But that would only grant them some twenty-odd minutes of freedom, followed by another five hours of captivity.

The dragon trainer didn’t even have the luxury of a time-out, since she had used her first one less than three hours ago.

Maybe I should’ve gone for a bathroom break as well back then. I can’t stop thinking about what’ll happen if I develop the urge to pee in the next five minutes.

“Mmrrnggn!” She moaned in frustration at her armbinder.

LET GO OF ME, STUPID LEATHER SACK! I WANNA BEND MY ARMS! IS THAT TOO MUCH TO ASK?!!!

Clair kept thrashing until she exhausted herself, slumping down in her armbinder and breathing heavily to suck in enough air through her nostrils, since her mouth was of no help for that.

The three other trainers looked at their colleague with a mixture of awe and pity.

She’s got energy to spare it seems. Sabrina thought to herself.

Somehow my position doesn’t seem as bad anymore. Misty admitted silently.

Flannery felt the same way.

My guess is any one of us would end up the same as Clair if we tried fighting our restraints. None of us stand a chance at under our own power. 

That didn’t stop the redhead from trying however. She kept rolling around on the floor, searching for any knots which might have slacked.

There must be something we can do! If not alone, then together!

Eventually, Flannery was the first to hit her switch, telling Misty and Sabrina to do the same.

“You guys, we need to get rid of our gags. I’m confident we’ll be able to come up with a plan if we combine ideas.”

The two other gym leaders nodded, reaching out to hit their own bright red switches.

Flannery squeezed her hands into fists as she nervously waited for what would happen. A corner of her mind feared Latro had planned for this, that some kind of failsafe would prevent all girls from timing out at the same time.

But to her relief, Sabrina and Misty were soon standing beside her with the same set of magnetic cuffs and count down timer as her.

That only left Clair, who just looked up at them with an envious gaze.

“Her five hours aren’t up yet.” Sabrina spontaneously pointed out. “That’s what you get for being impatient.”

“Gmrrnn!”

“Let it go, Sabrina.” Flannery replied. “Someone had to be the first one to test what that man’s contraptions could do. I for one am glad I knew what was coming when I pressed the switch.”

The purplette wrapped her arms around her waist in a defensive manner. “I suppose I’ll admit to that as well. Sorry Clair.”

“Hmrn fnn.”

No one knew what she had said. But telling the dragon trainer wasn’t going to make her feel any better.

“Do you think those robot arms will intervene if we try to remove her gag so she can speak too?” Misty offered.

“I wouldn’t be surprised. They seem extremely advanced.” Sabrina replied. “Think about it: If they won’t respond to us doing that, why would we stop at just the gag? We could take off her restraints as well and she’d be free to roam without these damned shackles!” She explained, pointing at one of her cuffs.

“Besides, part of Clair's restraints are even locked down.” Flannery countered. “So were Sabrina’s, come to think of it.”

The purple haired psychic frowned. “Darn, I suppose that’s true. While I might have some psychic abilities, they can’t exactly tear open a padlock.”

The dragon trainer groaned, wanting to join the conversation. Or perhaps it was more about the gag being gone.

“Should we attempt ungagging her anyways?” Flannery offered. “Maybe if one of us approaches her and the others back away just in case, we can limit our risks.

“Are you volunteering?” Sabrina said sternly.

The redhead flinched. “T-that-”

A vision of half a dozen robot arms surging from the ceiling, walls and floor sprung to Flannery’s mind. All of them clamping around her arms and legs and dragging her to her platform to wrap her in even tighter bondage than before!

“I-I- uh...”

“We’re wasting time everyone.” Misty suddenly interrupted. “The idea was to use this time without gags to think up a way to escape.”

The water Pokémon trainer looked at Clair. “We’re sorry Clair, but it’s too risky to reach out to you. We’ll be able to free ourselves simultaneously tomorrow. After we’ve all slept through the night hours, all buttons will have been reset.”

She grunted softly and nodded her head. Sounds reasonable. Nothing I can do to protest anyways...

“Very well, then let’s make good use of the 15-or so minutes we have left.” Flannery replied. “What’s our first move?”

“We need an idea of the layout.” Sabrina said determined.

“Should we go exploring?” Flannery suggested. “Although we might have too little time right now. Maybe it’s best to wait for five hours and then use a full slot.”

“I agree.” Misty replied. “We should also take turns rather than go together.”

“How so?” Flannery asked, not exactly thrilled about walking around that place by herself (in a bikini).

“We can cover more ground that way.” Misty explained. “If anyone finds something useful, the others can head out to follow up on it immediately, rather than us having to wait five hours to tackle it as a group.”

“I agree.” The psychic trainer nodded. “We can report to one another what we found and where. But be sure to leave enough time left on the clock to explain everything you found in detail.”

“Mgnrn gnrh nnmrrn mghhff.” Clair suddenly murmured into her gag.

"… I’m sorry?” Misty replied gingerly.

“I’m afraid we didn’t quite get that.” Flannery admitted.

“HMGGNNR!” The dragon trainer growled in frustration.

“Maybe you should mime it.” Sabrina said dryly.

“SABRINA!” Misty yelped. “That’s rude!”

“Hey, she’s being rude too! It’s not our fault that thing covering her mouth turns everything she says into garble!”

“HMRRNN (HEY)!” Clair exploded, thrashing around furiously.

“Sabrina!” Flannery yelled. “We’ve all been gagged, you should know how horrible it feels. Don’t insult her like that!”

The psychic gym leader flinched. “You’re right.”

She turned to the fuming bluenette. “I’m sorry Clair. I’m just on edge because those cuffs felt so tight on my body.”

“Hhns fhnn (it’s fine).” The bodacious bluenette replied, calming down as well.

“Now can we finally start making plans?” Misty asked, somewhat peeved off. “We’re running out of time to discuss our next move.”

“You’re right, again.” Sabrina sighed. “So, what have we got for now?”

“We explore the base to get an idea of the layout and our options. We also take turns to prevent bumping into anyone.” Flannery recapped.

“And we should time our explorations properly so we leave enough time to report what we found.” Misty added.

The purplette nodded. “That seems like a good method. Clair, you can go first given the timing of the resets.”

The dragon trainer nodded.

“Good. After you it’ll be Flannery, then Misty, and lastly me. Everyone okay with that?”

Nods all around.

“Great. Since this’ll be the last time for a while we can all chat together, let’s agree to make repeat that same loop in the afternoon, a few hours after I get back. By the end of my second run it’ll be evening.”

“Meaning we have supper at the end of our last exploration and turn in for the night.” Misty understood the psychic’s idea.

“And with the four of us making two laps each, we should definitely have covered enough ground to work out an escape plan when we wake up tomorrow.”

Sabrina nodded. “At that point, our timers will have reset and we can make a break for it all four at once.”

“You want to escape tomorrow already?” Misty asked surprised.

“If we can. It’ll depend on how much we find out. Worst case, we spend another day exploring.”

The redheads nodded decisively. “With this I think we’ve covered all our bases.”

“And not a moment too soon.” Misty yelped. “My timer is going to run out!”

“So is mine!” Flannery gasped, already running for her platform.

“Clair, you know what to do?”

“Hmgrng!”

“I trust that meant yes.” The purple haired trainer smirked before marching back to her own place corner of the room.

The bluenette glowered at her fellow gym leader and her hip-swaying walk back to captivity.

Just like with Clair, all three women were confined back to their platforms in their ropes and tape and cuffs in exactly the same manner as before. Despite putting up some resistance, they had failed to create any slack in their bindings.

The hours crawled by, so slowly that Clair slammed her forehead into the switch the moment it lit up again.

“Haaah! It feels good to stretch my arms and legs again.” She moaned in delight. “Pity you still have to wait so long, Sabrina.”

The dragon trainer couldn’t resist a small jibe back at the psychic, now that their roles had been reversed.

“Mrnn.”

“Not as much fun when you’re the gagged one, is it?” The beautiful trainer smirked as she walked out the door to do her part of the recon.

The corridor she stepped into ended in a dead end several feet to the right, with only one door.

"As good a place to start as any, I suppose.”

She pressed down on the handle of the door and fearlessly walked inside. Her discovery on the other end was a let-down however.

“Nothing? Just an empty room?!”

The bluenette sighed heavily. “Let’s hope there aren’t too many of these in here, or we’ll be wasting a lot of time.”

She quickly closed the door behind her, not realizing the fact that room was an exact copy of the one she and her friends had been imprisoned in.

The room currently holding Clair and the others was vast, enough so it could accommodate 15 people (though it would be crowded at that point). In other words, Latro hadn’t been lying when he told them his base was more than equipped to handle their imprisonment...

After making a quick pist-stop in the bathroom to relieve herself, the dragon trainer walked down the other end of the corridor at a brisk pace. She kept glancing at the counter on her right cuff every few steps. If she were to be the one to cause a lockdown at her very first outing, she would die of shame!

Fearful of wasting her time on a string of empty rooms, Clair ignored all doors on the current floor and instead decided to travel up the stairs and walk into the very first room she found there.

She arrived in what seemed like living quarters. A very large room where, besides a king size bed and wardrobe, was also a section for admin. At least that’s how it looked since there were several computer screens and a few paper folders sitting on top of a wide desk containing several drawers.

“This must be where that creep lives.” Clair surmised with a shiver down her spine.

Odd fantasies of her being dragged into this room whilst helpless to fight her captor suddenly came to mind.

To shake them off she rushed back out of the room and continued her exploration.

In the end she didn’t find much of use. But having been the first one to go on reconnaissance, she never expected to. Too much time was wasted trying to figure out an easy to remember route and trying doors which wouldn’t open.

Nonetheless, the three other gym leaders were quite impressed with her detailed report before the bluenette returned to her platform.

Flannery was up next. Using Clair’s advice, she continued to explore the floor above their prison room.

Like the bluenette had foretold, a lot of the rooms were empty and unused. There had been too many for Clair to describe so she had brought back markers she’d taken from Latro’s room and told the girls to tick of any rooms they had cleared or found particularly promising.

But much like Clair, Flannery lost more time than she’d liked running up and down hallways to get a layout of the base.

“This place is massive!” She groaned after walking back into the room where her friends were. “We’re never going to learn where everything is!”

“hmrr mm rhrrh nh (Tell me about it).” Clair replied.

“The only thing I found worth going back to is an equipment room. There were more of those horrible Pokéball cages in there, amongst other things. If nothing else, we could use it to learn how those things work and figure out a way to open them.”

Misty hit her own switch to be free of her tape.

“That’s a very good find!” She complimented Flannery.

The busty fire Pokémon expert smiled back. “Thank you. And good luck. Don’t worry too much about covering a lot of ground. Even if this place is huge, there have to be two or three rooms which could be of use, right?”

Her fellow redhead smiled. “Got it!”

“See you in twenty minutes.” Flannery said before pressing the switch and calling the robotic arms to wrap her luscious body back up in rope.

Misty took a different colour marker pen on her run and started covering the rooms on the ground floor which the other gym leaders had passed by.

The third door she went through brought her inside the mess hall, which was large enough to fit fifty people.

“Guess that gives us an idea of the true size of this place. Definitely too much to explore on foot in 10 minutes.” Misty thought out loud.

She looked at the door leading to the kitchen.

“Hang on, shouldn’t that chef be in there?”

The Cerulean gym leader gingerly approached, but found the kitchen empty.

“He must have returned to his room. A pity, I would’ve liked to speak to him and find out why he remains all by himself.”

When Misty returned and the time came for Sabrina to do her exploration, there were four rooms with potentially useful information or equipment:

Latro’s own chambers.

An equipment room holding several more of those Pokéball cages and more hunting equipment. Sadly, no key cards or tools to open the ones keeping their Pokémon confined.

The mess hall, where they should have a chance to run into the chef preparing their food. If they could get him on their side, their escape would become a lot easier.

A sealed room which required a passcode.

Despite the obvious allure of getting the base chef on their side, the psychic still couldn’t resist checking out Latro’s personal bedroom. 

It was only a hunch, but she felt there could be something important hidden in that room. Best case scenario she found the keys to free their Pokémon, but she would settle for a way to deactivate the cuffs and explore the base uninterrupted.

She made her way straight for up the stairs and entered the room Clair had marked after taking Latro’s marker pens.

Once inside, she started pulling on the drawers of his desk and going through his papers and notebooks. After that, she turned on his computer.

The purple haired woman became so transfixed on trying to break into Latro’s computer she forgot to keep an eye on the timer.

When she did eventually glance at her wrist, it showed “1:09” and counting down.

“Only one minute left?!” She suddenly shrieked. “I have to get back!”

The psychic gym leader rushed down the stairs and dove for her switch, without even the time to explain what she’d been doing to her friends.

Having each waited for others to return on multiple occasions already, they had gotten a rough feeling for how long twenty minutes felt. So, they all knew she was cutting it close and had started twitching nervously as they glanced at the door every few seconds.

All of the girls breathed a long sigh in relief when Sabrina returned within the time limit.

“Mhmrm mmrm mrr? (Where were you?)” Clair growled.

“Mnn nmmnphph nnnn’ph mnhm nph (You almost didn’t make it)!” Flannery said accusingly.

“Nrm mnn nn phn phnmmphhnng (Are you on to something?)” Misty asked hopefully.

“I nhihhgh he. Ninn’gh haghe enouhh ghinhe (I might be. Didn’t have enough time).” The purplette said annoyed.

The four women did their second run as planned, searching for more leads or building on their own findings and that of the others.

Being the last one of the day, the purple haired psychic chose to make a shorter run just checking the most promising leads and spend more time recapping everything for the others so they could mull the various options over in their mind.

The temptation to go back to Latro’s room had been immense, but she would’ve never forgiven herself if she had lost track of time again and returned a second time with nothing to show. Or worse, not return at all…

When morning came, the four gym leaders freed themselves as soon as everyone had woken up.

A pleasant surprise had shown up on their wrist bands as well. It seemed like the first exploration after night hours was double in time: forty minutes.

But none of that could be applied to a more thorough search of the base. At least not right now, on the fly. All of the girls were far too eager to freshen up with a hot shower and enjoy breakfast in peace.

Naturally, the only topic was break out plan. After 8 exploration tours, there was plenty to discuss after all.

“I think we can all agree this place is too massive to ever get a full idea of the layout.” Clair opened up with.

“Definitely.” Sabrina agreed. “But the parts we did cover make it clear this place really is completely empty, like that mercenary said. He lives here by himself.”

“And the chef, who is actually pretty good at what he does.” Flannery pointed out after finishing one of the sandwiches.

After summarizing what they’d discovered, they all came to the same conclusion:

Their best bet was getting their Pokémon out of those cages. In fact, to them it felt like their only option. No gym leader worth her salt would attempt an escape whilst leaving their partners behind.

“Anyone found something that could be of use to make that happen?” Clair asked the group.

No one responded.

Sabrina still had her sights set on that door locked by a keypad, but since it was unknown what was in there she didn’t want to waste time theorizing. Their 40 minutes were running out.

Clair nodded. “Then we’ll spend another day taking turns to explore.”

“How about we go two by two this time?” Flanner offered. “We might be able to discover more if we combine ideas whilst we are investigating this place.”

“Good idea.” Sabrina replied.

“I’ll join up with Sabrina then.” Misty pitched in.

“And Clair and I will head out on the second turn.” Flannery replied.

“I look forward to it. Walking around in this empty base felt spooky at times.” The blue haired trainer admitted.

“I know what you mean.” Misty shivered. “Like we’re trapped in some kind of horror movie.”

“More like a living nightmare.” Sabrina said dryly.

The other girls shared a nervous giggle. 

“That might be the best way to describe our time here.” The dragon trainer pointed out.

“Let’s hope that after tomorrow we’ll have a way out of this nightmare.” Misty sighed.

Five hours later, the first duo headed out.

Sabrina managed to convince Flannery to help comb Latro’s quarters for keys or useful information on the base’s layout. The purplette spent most of her time memorizing a few pages in a small notebook and deciding which ones to leave open in front of her, so she could keep working on it once she was back in captivity.

Misty and Clair found a route leading to a hangar which held a single small airplane. It could be their way out on a last-ditch effort, should they be forced to take their Pokémon along inside the cages.

When evening fell and the women had dinner together again, Sabrina told the other gym leaders she first had something to test.

When she came back a few minutes later she was positively beaming.

“Remember that room with the keypad? I figured out the code whilst sitting here bound and gagged. It was written in a cipher in a notebook I found in Latro’s room.” Sabrina said proudly. “You’ll never guess what was inside that room.”

More trainers?” Flannery suggested pessimistically.

“No! I found a weapon room!”

“What good is that to us? There’s no one to fight.” Clair replied.

“For a start, we can ambush him when he gets back, we just need to hide some of the equipment in our own room and stage an attack when he walks in.” Sabrina replied impatiently.” But that’s not even my main plan: don’t you think a base as sophisticated as this would have optical weaponry?”

Clair frowned. “Lasers?”

The others looked equally puzzled.

“Yes, lasers!” the purplette repeated, annoyed the others weren’t catching up. “If we can find a small and precise laser cutter or blade-”

“We can cut the cages off our pokéballs without harming them!” Misty cheered.

The other girls’ eyes widened. “That’s the best news I’ve heard all day.” Clair cried out. 

Sabrina smiled proudly. "I would hope so!"

"Should we head out straight away?" Flannery offered excitedly.

But the psychic shook her head. "The room is rather larger. I'd rather use as much time as we can."

"So tomorrow morning then? We'll have a 40-minute window." Misty offered.

"That sounds like a good idea." Clair agreed. "But then we do run the risk of missing our chance to escape. If Latro comes back tonight all will be for naught."

"Not really." Flannery replied. "He won't stay in this base forever. We'd just have to wait for his next outing."

"AND we'd have extra manpower with us then." Misty added. "Provided he succeeded in capturing more trainers."

"Let's hope he didn't." Sabrina said somberly. "This is a fate I wouldn't wish on anyone."

The young women looked over at their pokéballs, so close yet impossible to reach. Their hearts yearned to see their partners again.

"Tomorrow." Misty said determined. "Tomorrow morning, we break out of here."

"Well said!" Clair acknowledged.

"Then here's the plan." Sabrina moved on. "Tomorrow morning, we head for the weapons vault together and carry as much useful equipment we can back here. I made a quick glance and there will be a lot to comb through. But if we divide the place into four sections we can work efficiently. Only focus on small, lightweight cutting tools.”

"We should also take a single weapon each, in case we fail to open up our pokéballs and have to go for the coup d'état plan." Clair pointed out.

Misty and Flannery nodded, after which the gym leaders finished their meal and returned to their prisoner's positions.

The next morning, all girls hit their switches the moment daylight time kicked in. They hadn't gotten as much sleep as they'd wished. All of them had felt too tense about what could be their only shot at escape.

As soon as they were free to move, they followed Sabrina to the weapon's vault.

After fiddling around with the keypad, the massive steel door slid open and revealed a vast room with dozens of drawers and wardrobes, all made out of cold, grey steel.

They divided up the place and started searching from top to bottom, opening every drawer and peering into every closet.

Most of the equipment they found was Pokémon poaching gear, such as net catapults, electric stun guns or tranquilizer guns. Firearms were also present, as were gas masks, combat knives,…

All of this equipment is military grade. Clair realized as she picked up a heavy sniper's rifle. Whoever this man is, he’s got connections.

After making their way through half of Latro’s armory, Sabrina opened a large cabinet which looked like it could hold maintenance tools. She was wrong.

“JACKPOT!” She shouted, startling the others.

“Did you find something that can destroy those cages?” Flannery asked hopefully.

“Even better! The fusebox for this base. If we flick these switches, all the power will go down.”

“Including the surveillance and lockdown.” Misty understood the purplette’s enthusiasm.

“Maybe even these cuffs we’re wearing.” Flanner added in a hopeful tune.

“We’ll know in a minute.” Sabrina said with a confident grin.

She opened the small plastic casing for the main power switch.

** WHOOOP WHOOOP WHOOOP ***

The wailing of a siren suddenly filled the armoury. No, the entire base!

“What? HOW?!” Sabrina cried out in shock.

“Our timers still have over 15 minutes!” Misty shrieked in equal panic.

“Was this a trap?” Flannery lamented, rushing towards the armory door to try and keep it from sliding shut. But they heavy pneumatic pumps didn't even slow down as the bodacious redhead leaned into the door, groaning deeply.

Within seconds, the door had sealed them in.

"NO!" Sabrina screamed.

What have I done?! She wept silently. This is my fault. I should have known that bastard would prepare traps for us.

It wasn’t so much a trap as it was an extra security measure for his compound. To prevent the military from raiding his base, Latro had taken counter measures for every favoured tactic.

Each fusebox on his base had a hidden keypad on the side of the cabinet. Failing to type in the security code would initiate the lockdown.

It was more efficient than putting up perimeter sentinels or investing in sensors powerful enough to keep the entire base under close surveillance.

His infiltrators might be surrounded by weaponry, the bulkhead for the armoury was impervious to all of them. 

The sound of sirens continued to fill the entire base and the various doors and hangar gates started closing and locking as programmed, trapping any other teams which would be infiltrating his base along with the ones tampering with the electrics.

Once the lockdown had been completed, Latro would have all the time in the world to take out whoever had tried to steal from him. For example by flooding several of the rooms and corridors with sleeping gas through the air ducts.

For this particular lockdown, that wasn't necessary however. All his 'raiders' were in the same room, and in the process of being incapacitated

Misty, Sabrina, Flannery and Clair were all screaming and moaning in frustration as they felt their arms being drawn away from their bodies. The electromagnets inside their cuffs had started powering up, and both their wrists were now slowly moving towards the nearest metal object. Inside that armoury, there was plenty to choose from.

"Nooo! Stop it!" Flannery mewled as both her wrists had slammed together and were now firmly attached to the metal door.

Misty's hands had also connected by now. In her shock at the sirens going off she had lowered her hands, which had enabled her cuffs to slam together behind her back with enough force to startle her. The single step back she made brought the cuffs in magnetic range of a wide metal airduct rising up from the floor.

"Oww!" She yelped as her arms were dragged backwards and hit the metal with a soft *clang*

She immediately tried pulling her arms free, but they might as well have been welded to the airduct.

"Nooo!"

Clair had been standing in front of a massive metal work bench when the cuffs powered up. Both her wrists were now lying on the surface of the workbench either side of her body. No matter how hard she struggled, they wouldn’t budge an inch.

The bluenette gritted her teeth. "Come on!" She yelled.

Dozens of weapons were littered around her, the result of her energetic search of Latro's stash. But not one of them could be brought in reach of her fluttering fingers.

This place is hell! I'm going to kill that monster if it's the last thing I do!

Sabrina was holding equally murderous feelings, especially since she had been pulled with her back to another of the wide metal airduct, her wrists pinned on either hip. Her back was feeling chilly from the cold air running up the pipe. But no matter how hard she tried, she utterly failed to wrest herself free.

With that, all four girls had been pinned down in the weapons vault. None of them were in reach of each other or any form of tool. Their hands had been rendered useless through the unyielding cuffs locked around their wrists. All that remained for them was to wait for Latro to open that door to retrieve them, no doubt whilst wearing his infuriatingly smug grin.