The Mole

After looking around the lab a bit more, Torterra decided not to waste any more time. Apart from computers and laboratory equipment, there was nothing else here. It was necessary to finish this matter.

He went out into the central hall and drew air into his lungs. His neck wound was already cauterized, so he hoped it wouldn't hurt as much as last time.

RRRAAAHHHHHHH

A golden stream of fire erupted from his mouth and filled the laboratory with fire. The fire filled the corridors and penetrated into the most remote corners of the underground laboratory. After a few minutes, Torterra stopped. The entire base was completely on fire.

Taking another breath, Torterra let out his fiery breath again, but this time he tried to concentrate the flow into a thin line by clenching his mouth shut. The flow of fire gradually contracted, turning into a thin, wide beam, similar to a sword.

PPPRRRRRRRRRRRR

A sound similar to the operation of a jet engine echoed throughout the laboratory. The golden beam cut through the concrete walls like a hot knife through butter. A red trail of molten concrete and steel was left everywhere he went.

Torterra moved his head from left to right and took several steps to turn around. He tried to destroy as much as possible so that this laboratory could not be restored. After his breath ran out, he paused before unleashing the same attack again.

PPPRRRRRRRRRRRR

He even cut through the heavy steel doors in the future clones' rooms. There was no place left where he would not direct his beam. His stream of plasma penetrated very deep into the walls, even going beyond the premises and making holes in the ground. Explosions rang out everywhere.

KKRRRRKK

He felt a slight earthquake with his legs and stopped his attack to check what was going on. Sand fell on his head from above and he raised his head to look up. The ceiling of the large room where he was was beginning to crack.

"Shit," he cursed, turning and heading for the hole in the ceiling. Before he could get there, the light from this hole disappeared. The walls of the hole collapsed and began to fill the laboratory. He tried to climb out, despite the sand and rocks, but he had nothing to hold on to. The ground he dug his claws into was collapsing, unable to support his weight.

BOOM BSSHHHSH

A huge flow of earth and stones fell on him, preventing him from rising even a few meters. Behind this flow, the ceiling of the laboratory began to fall.

BAH BOOM SHHH

In just a few seconds, the entire laboratory was covered with earth. Torterra was no exception and it was pressed by a kilometer layer of earth.

"Eh! Like in the old days. I used to panic a lot when I woke up underground." Although he panicked at first, after he was already covered in dirt, he somehow relaxed. Memories of his awakening flashed through his mind. The biggest problem in such situations was lack of air. But he could sleep almost forever, either underwater or buried, and he never had problems with air. Of course, it was nice to breathe fresh air, but his body could somehow function without it.

Despite his relaxed state, he wasn't going to sleep here. If he falls asleep here, he may wake up 10 years later and not notice it.

He tried to move, but it was quite difficult. Such a great weight on him was quite a constraint on him. He tried to move in small jerks, but it was taking too long and it was starting to annoy him.

"Maybe I can just melt this earth?" An interesting idea came to him, and he immediately began to heat his body, directing the energy from the fiery breath inside himself. His body began to glow, especially his body armor.

Little by little, the soil and stones around him began to turn red and melt. Immediately Torterra felt the difference and started moving his hands. It felt like he was moving in very viscous water.

"Perfectly! It worked!" He began to wave his arms and legs, and rose to the surface at a fairly good speed.

POV: Choi

It was a very difficult day. I sat at the monitor for so long that my buttocks already hurt (It wasn't really a monitor, but rather a holographic projector). Many people had already gone to eat, but I couldn't go because our boss was still standing next to me.

UURRR

My stomach grumbled with hunger. I felt like my stomach wanted to eat even more than I did. I looked at Marshall, hoping he would let me go to lunch, but he didn't even notice me.

"Well." I thought and took my old uneaten chocolate bar from the shelf under the table and took a bite with tears in my eyes.

"Show me on the map where Torterra is going!" The Marshal gave the order, and I put the chocolate aside and began to work. A moment later, I mapped Torterra's trajectory and displayed it on the holographic monitor in front of us.

"There's nothing there, Sir!"

"Show the images from our reconnaissance satellites." Marshal gave another order.

I immediately did so, connecting with our satellites and getting the latest pictures of the area.

"You are right, Sir! There is some kind of military base there." I answered the boss. In the middle of this base was a large hole in the ground. Our detection system was pointed towards the ocean, so we spotted the Torterra-like creature already when it was near the city. But looking at the satellite images, I could see that this is where the creature came from.

"This creature was sleeping right under a military base? It's kind of weird that they didn't know there was something there before building the base. This base was quite new and now before building anything, people check what's underground." I began to think out loud.

"He didn't sleep there. He was born there. It was a Torterra clone." Marshal answered me. I turned my head sharply and looked at him, but again the boss did not even look at me.

"Sir! It turns out that people are behind the destruction of these cities? Do you know who did it?" Marshal did not answer me. Obviously he knew about it. If the public finds out about this, we will have even more protests and riots among the population.

"We need to gather evidence. Maybe send Jaeger there?" I understood that this was a crime against humanity, and criminals should be in prison, not in power.

"We can't. By the time Jaeger gets there, Torterra will have destroyed the lab. And sending people there by helicopter is impossible because the military is guarding the base there. But I think that even if Torterra destroys the lab, they won't back down. Next time we'll be ready before this." Marshal answered me.

His last words were ambiguous. What will we be ready for? Until the next Clone attack? Is it to collect evidence in time and take action against these people?

We continued to observe the events taking place at the military base for some time. 15 minutes after Torterra descended into the hole, a strong earthquake occurred in the area. And a minute later, the entire military base went underground. The hole in the ground expanded very quickly, engulfing the base and the forest for several kilometers around the base.

"WOW! I've never seen anything like this." I commented on what I saw. Instead of a military base, there was a Giant Crater 200 meters deep and several kilometers wide. A lot of dust was flying in the air. Our drones circled at a great distance and observed what was happening.

As the dust settled in the middle of the crater, the ground began to turn red and a moment later there was an explosion.

BAAAHH

Something similar to a volcanic eruption could be seen in the middle of the crater. Lava rose into the air along with black smoke and rocks. A moment later, Torterra's hand burst out of the center of this "volcano", and later he climbed out of the pit completely, covered in lava. His whole body glowed very brightly.

"Who would have doubted that he would make it? I wasn't worried about him at all." I said with a smile on my face.

Torterra stood still for a few minutes while he cooled down, then headed for the ocean. At that moment, Marshal turned and left. He left the room and headed for his office.

"Thank God!" I breathed a sigh of relief and stretched my legs under the table to stretch my muscles. I grabbed a piece of chocolate bar and wanted to throw it into the trash can next to the table, but hesitated at the last moment. Quickly removing the chocolate wrapper, I threw it into the trash can, and the bar was popped into my mouth as I ran to the dining room.