For a terrifying moment, it's just me and darkness and the feeling of weightlessness. Then I strike the water, and the silence is deafening.

I think I'm supposed to be moving, but I'm not. I can feel myself drifting, slowly sinking down as my gear tugs me closer to the bottom.

Something grabs me and I'm going up. I make my head turn and glimpse orange. We break the surface.

"Flo?" Bass looks at me in concern.

I take out my mouthpiece. "I'm okay. Thank you."

Elsie surfaces with Ella.

"You okay?" I call.

"Yeah," she says and looks up. Ella's light barely illuminates the hole through which we fell. As we watch, it rumbles closed.

Glancing around, I see some steps and point Bass towards them. I fumble up the submerged stairs, every bone feeling weighted. Two steps up from the surface of the water is a platform, and I sit down heavily with my flippers in the water.

"Think they designed that purposefully?" Elsie asks, floundering up the steps after me.

"How could they?" I ask. "They didn't know this would be underwater."

"Mana, mana!" Manaphy exclaims, repeatedly leaping in and out of the water. I don't know if it's excited that we made it in or that we're close to finding Kaylee.

Kaylee.

I glance around the chamber, hoping somehow to see her. A dark shape is slumped against one wall, a familiar purple braid resting in its lap.

"Kaylee!" I exclaim and rip off my flippers before running to her side.

"Micah, careful!" Elsie calls.

I can hear her breathing—she's still wearing her scuba gear—but she's not moving. Did Dylan somehow put her to sleep?

"Kaylee." I shake her shoulder gently. "Kaylee, wake up."

"Micah!" Elsie calls again. "Something's wrong."

I glance towards her and notice that Bass has collapsed on the stairs. Manaphy and Ella appear to be panicking. "What's wrong?" I get to my feet and the world sways around me.

"I think it's a trap," she's saying. "Bass just—"

Black curtains close over my vision and the floor rushes to meet me. My cheek smacks the ground, stinging. Briefly, my vision clears. I can see the rough stone fading into the darkness at the edge of the chamber. A shape steps out of the darkness, also wearing his scuba equipment.

Something makes sense now, but I don't know what it is. I just know that I've been extremely dumb. A trap, a very sophisticated trap…

The darkness floods from the corners to cover me.

…

People are talking. My face is pressed into the cold stone. I can see the dark outline of each grey brick, faintly illuminated by something behind me. The sharp scent of salt accompanies the mellow smell of old earth. It's the smell of air that hasn't been breathed in thousands of years. My hands are pinned under me, bound, so I don't try to move. I listen.

"…Sleep Powder?" says Elsie's voice.

"Nah, that's too easy to detect," responds a deeper voice—Dylan. "I sealed the room and burned up all the oxygen. It's unsealed now of course. We should have a few hours."

"To do what?"

"Call the temple of the sea, our birthright."

I roll slightly to the side, freeing my arms, and test the strength of the knots. They're loose. I start picking at them.

"You're right," Elsie says, releasing a sigh. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you before. I guess I didn't think it was possible…until now I've seen this."

Dylan laughs. "I love you, sister, but I know better than to trust you. Those ropes are going to stay on. However, you can come watch as I finish my work."

I hear a scrabbling sound, like Elsie getting pulled to her feet.

"Wait, what about them?" A note of franticness touches her voice. She's trying to stall.

"Don't worry; they can't escape." Dylan's voice is fading along with their footsteps—and the light. "I've got their pokemon."

The rough scrape of stone against stone cuts off Elsie's reply. Now all I can hear is the soft lapping of water and the sound of my breathing.

"Kaylee?" I whisper into the black and struggle to sit up against the weight of my oxygen tank. The knots are loose enough that I pull my hand through the rope. My feet aren't even tied.

"Kaylee?" I whisper again, flicking on my dive-light. The white beam slices through the dark. Her unconscious form is propped against the wall five feet from me. Dylan didn't bother tying her at all. I have a sinking feeling it's because he closed the only way out.

I remove her scuba gear so she can breathe normally. Now I know why she was wearing it in the first place, so she wouldn't asphyxiate. That should've been my first clue that Dylan had done something.

"Hey, Kaylee, wake up." I try shaking her shoulder. When that doesn't work, I slap her.

"Ow!" she exclaims, eyes flying open and hand flying to her cheek.

"Consider that payback for yesterday." I get to my feet and offer her a hand. She slaps it away and stands up herself.

"Where is he?" she demands.

Sliding off my oxygen tank, I rest it next to Kaylee's and turn to the wall. "Gone." I peel off my glove and run my hand along the stone. There has to be some sort of switch or something to open the door from the inside. But first I'll have to find the door.

"Gone?" she exclaims. "That—gah! He used me as the princess in distress. Do you know how insulting that—"

"Kaylee. He has Manaphy."

She curses. "That bastard. And he locks us in here while he runs off to sell it to the highest bidder?"

"Not quite." I fill her in while we walk along the three walls.

"That's stupid," she says when I finish. "He actually thinks it will work?"

"It might be stupid, but he has Manaphy and we're trapped in here." I reach the edge of the platform, where the stairs descend into the water.

"No duh," she replies. She's reached the edge on the other side and walks towards me. "What are we going to do about it?"

"We're going to get Manaphy back and find another way out of this building." I stare at the dark water and then glance back to the oxygen tanks. "This place wasn't always underwater, right?"

"Sure, I guess." She follows my look. "You're thinking there might be an exit down there?"

"No reason why there shouldn't be," I reply and stride towards our tanks. "How much air do you have left?"

"No idea," she replies, catching up with me. "He had me put on my dive equipment then ordered his Ghastly to use Hypnosis to knock me out. Oh, and he has a massive Swampert. I guess that's how he got me down here. I don't remember anything else."

For the first time, I realize she's in jeans and a t-shirt. Her teeth are chattering. "You're cold," I say, surprised.

"Well it's not like he was going to let me change into a wetsuit."

I check the canisters. Hers is lower than mine, but not too bad. Still plenty for us to search for an exit and still reach the surface. Nevertheless, I hand her mine. She's too busy shivering to notice.

"Split up or stick together?" I ask, speeding through my gear check.

"Together." She pulls on the equipment vest. "Unless you have another flashlight that I can use."

Moments later, we wade down the stairs and enter the dark water. With no currents or pokemon to disturb the silt, the water is eerily clear. My light slices through it smooth as a knife.

Once at the bottom, I pause so Kaylee can catch up. If I didn't think they'd fall off her tiny feet, I'd have loaned her my flippers. Then again, she would have probably refused out of principle.

Kaylee taps my arm and points. I adjust the light so it follows her finger, but the darkness eats it before it can illuminate a wall. I nod to her. We've just found our way out.

Like the rest of the temple, the corridor is made out of smoothly chiseled stone—so perfectly cut that, as we found out, not even water could seep through the cracks. The hall branches off and we take the smaller one, only to discover that it leads to a series of rooms. We waste precious time backtracking.

After another dead end, I check my air gauge. Maybe I overestimated how much air I had left. The needle is disturbingly low. Soon I'll be breathing what I need to get to the surface.

Stairs loom on the right. I pause and wave to Kaylee, then point to the staircase. She gives me a thumbs-up. I start swimming.

Partway up, my head hits air. I take off my mask and fumble up a few more steps, sitting heavily to check the gauge. Good enough. I still have extra for when it's time to leave this underwater temple.

I shake water out of my ears while I wait for Kaylee. The ancient silence of the staircase seems almost tangible, like a mere movement would snap it in two. Then Kaylee surfaces with a splash and the silence withdraws into the darkness.

"I hate him!" Kaylee shivers and brushes past me. Before following, I tug off my flippers. The smooth stone is cold against my bare feet, but it's better than announcing our presence with the slap-slap of wet flippers.

She wrings the water out of her hair as we walk. "I'm going to beat him to a pulp, then wring his neck, then drive over him with your car."

"My car?" I ask.

"I wouldn't want to risk damaging Mocha." She stops and cocks her head. "Hear that?"

"Hear what?" I stop too.

"The sounds of his future ghost begging for mercy."

"Kaylee."

"And the sound of talking. This way!" She runs and I follow. All I hear is the sound of our bare feet hitting the stone floor, but Kaylee seems to know where she's going.

She slows and turns in a circle. "Or maybe I imagined it. Do you know where we are? I think we're lost."

I run my hand through my hair, trying to shove down my irritation. "This is serious, Kaylee. We need to find them before—"

"I know it's serious," she snaps. "I seriously thought I heard something."

"Well—"

"Hello?" Elsie's voice echoes through the corridor. "Kaylee? Micah?"

"Manaphy!"

Kaylee shoots me a glare and sticks her tongue out at me. She opens her mouth to call back. Frantically, I grab her arm and put my finger to my lips. We don't know if Dylan Wake is with them and we don't want to warn him.

"Hello?" Elsie calls again as Kaylee nods her understanding. I turn off my flashlight and a soft orange glow floods the corridor, coming from the sound of Elsie's voice. With me in the lead, we pad down the hall.

"Mana?" Manaphy says worriedly.

"I know, I know," Elsie responds.

I step out from behind the corner, registering in a single moment that it's just her, Manaphy, and her Typhlosion.

"Whoa!" Elsie jumps back.

"Ty." Her Typhlosion crouches to attack.

"Wait," Elsie says. "Micah, Kaylee?"

"Phee!" Manaphy exclaims and leaps into my arms.

"Blue guy!" A smile flashes across my face. "Are you okay?"

"Mana." The pokemon rubs its cheek against mine.

"Ooh, warm." Kaylee scoots close to the Typhlosion.

"Where's your brother?" I ask Elsie.

"Library or someplace." She shoves something in my hand and does the same to Kaylee. "Pokeballs. We need to get out of here and evacuate the town. Samaya is coming."

"That again?" Kaylee snorts. She's standing so close to the Fire-type that I think her clothes are about to combust. "Micah, we have our pokemon and Manaphy. Let's just leave."

"You don't understand!" Elsie sounds frantic. "Samaya is coming. It's going to flood the town!"

I shake my head. "You have no proof."

"Then let me show you." She grabs my arm and tries to pull me down the corridor, but I shake off her grip.

"I'm done with your games, Elsie. Kaylee and I are leaving."

"Mana, mana." Manaphy tugs on the collar of my wetsuit.

I frown. "What—?"

"Mana!" It leaps to the floor and patters down the hall.

"Manaphy!" I dart around Elsie and quickly overtake the blue pokemon, scooping it into my arms. "What are you doing?"

"Manaphy!" it exclaims, waving its fins in the air.

"Listen to it," Elsie says. "Let us show you."

I glance at Kaylee. My doubt is echoed on her face. "Fine," I say.

The room she leads us to is small, barely bigger than my bedroom. But the glowing symbols on the walls, ceiling, and floor add a sense of impressiveness.

Elsie steps into the blue light and holds out her hands. "Believe us now?"

"Okay, that's somewhat exciting," Kaylee says. "But how do we know this is actually a beacon to call Samaya?"

Elsie turns to us. "You don't," she says simply. "You just have to trust me."

I run a finger over one of the blue marks, feeling a slight vibration. "Trusting you is dangerous, Elsie."

"Then don't. Trust Manaphy."

I look at the pokemon in my arms. It's staring at me with wide eyes.

"Even if we believe you," Kaylee says, "no one else will. They certainly won't evacuate half of Undella based on your word."

Elsie is silent.

"Mana," Manaphy says softly.

Closing my eyes, I lean my forehead against the humming wall. I don't trust Elsie. But maybe the question is: Can I afford to not believe her?

My crew had worked floods before. Two years back, a particularly bad hurricane had struck Nuvema Town and they called us in to help. The smell is what got to me. The stink of rotting plants and animals, burst sewage pipes, moldy buildings. Graves had been unearthed and homes destroyed. In many cases, citizens had only been able to escape with their lives, everything else wiped out as if their past had never existed.

I don't want that to happen to my town. Even though the chance is that Elsie and Dylan Wake are wrong, the price is too high if they're right.

I breathe out a frustrated breath and spin to face the woman who had spent so much time lying to me. "Kaylee is right; they won't evacuate the town because we tell them to. But we might be able to shut down the beacon. You said before that the people were able to stop the process before Samaya had fully arrived. How do we do that?"

She meets my gaze with a steady one of her own. "If anyone knows how to shut it down, it would be my brother, and he's not going to share anytime soon."

"We could beat it out of him," Kaylee suggests.

"No," I say, and ask Elsie, "How much time do we have?"

"Maybe between five and eight hours."

I glance at Kaylee. She sighs and rolls her eyes. "Fine, we'll help," she says. "Show us what Dylan did to activate it. Maybe we can find a way to reverse it."

Elsie shrugs. "All he did was place Manaphy in the circle and it started glowing. Then he gave me our pokeballs and let me go."

I walk around the circle she mentioned. All the symbols seem to lead to this part on the floor.

"So Manaphy isn't the power source?" Kaylee asks.

"Are you kidding? Do you see how tiny it is? Manaphy is just the key."

I crouch and hold Manaphy at arm's length. "You okay with this?"

"Mana." It nods. I set Manaphy inside the circle.

Nothing happens.

Standing, I force out a breath and run a hand through my hair. "If Manaphy is the key, then there has to be some way to turn the key, right? To lock and unlock it?"

"Like reversing the polarity?" Kaylee says.

"Um, no," Elsie says. "Listen, my brother is the archaeology major. I know a little about our history, but I know nothing about how their technology works."

I nod again. "Okay. Okay then. It needs some kind of power source, right? If we find and destroy that, we can shut it down."

"And how do we find that?" Elsie asks.

I pick up Manaphy and turn to the door. "You mentioned your brother had gone to the library.

Let's see if we can find it."