Chapter 7: The Great Escape

Lance's Point of View

I stare down the Shiny Trevenant that's holding my friend hostage. Both of them look surprised to see me, Homare with a mix of relief and Trevenant with anger. "How did you get out," the kidnapper demands.

"That's not what matters right now," I respond. "Release him!"

"No," the shiny growls. Suddenly, the ground around me bursts as vines come shooting out, all of them trying to attack me. I side step, jump, and Slash my way around them, narrowly avoiding capture. Then, I leap forward, Ice Punching the enemy and holding them against the wall.

"Let us go willingly," I command in a low tone, "or I'll end this fight completely."

Trevenant struggles against me, but I hold them in place. After a bit, the captor sighs with defeat. "Alright…" they mutter as the vines that were holding Homare hostage released. "You win."

"Good," I say with a smirk as I let go of the shiny. "Now was that so hard?"

"H-How did you do all that," my companion questions as he makes his way to me. "The Lance I know can barely stay standing in the face of danger."

"I guess I gained some skills in these last few days," I answer, feeling pretty proud of my performance. "I've been replaying what Luca did in my head ever since it happened. Never got the chance to practice the moves against another Pokémon, but I have been teaching myself how to pull it off for a while. Apparently that training paid off."

"Yeah it did," Homare agrees, looking at me with pride. "That was awesome!" I chuckle as me and him exit the room and make our way down the hall. "Although, I gotta know how you got out of your cage," the Armarouge says.

"Well, I easily ripped my vines off then kicked the door down," I explain, dramatically reenacting some of the moves as I do to make it more convincing. "Then I breezed my way through the hordes of guards that were coming to attack me, defeated the one with the keys to the cages, and casually strolled through the place until I found you."

"Okay, while yes you've gotten better, you're not that good," Homare states, obviously not believing the tale. "How did you really escape?"

"You know, I find it quite insulting that you don't believe me," I tell him. "But you're right. That's not what happened," I admit with a sad sigh. "I wouldn't stop begging to use the bathroom until finally the guard took me. As we walked I headbutt her and then held her down as I attempted to knock her out. Once she was unconscious, I got lucky and found the keys on her belt. Then I set down the hall to find you. My plan was to try every door until I found you, and the first one I tried ended up being the right one."

"That sounds more right," the Fire Warrior says.

"Yeah, yeah," I mumble with an eye roll. "Now let's get out of here! I don't think it will be long before that Trevenant gets reinforcements and lock us back up!"

"Not yet," Homare tells me, grabbing my wrist. "We should look around for Evan. I guarantee you he's here."

I begin to tell him no, but then I look him in the eyes. He's concerned for the kid, desperately wanting to get Evan out of here. If I force us to go, it will hurt him.The Armarouge needs to find this child, for himself and Evan.

"Fine," I say as I give in with a sigh. "But let's make this quick. I want out of here as quickly as possible!"

"Thank you," Homare replies, relief and joy filling him. "Let's start looking."

Me and my companion rush through the halls, trying every door we pass. We encounter prisoners that are probably clueless on why they're here (lucky for them I'm a nice guy and release them as we find them), guards that try to recapture us (but luckily are all Grass types, so Homare easily deals with them), and random rooms that doesn't feel like belong in a place like this (like a bathroom (where do they get a plumbing system for an underground prison!?)). After seven minutes of searching, we find the boy.

"Are you Evan," Homare asks gently as he unties the child's bondage. The little Eevee nods, whimpering softly. "You're parents sent us. Ready to go home."

"Y-Yes, please," Evan responds timidly. My companion picks the dog up and rushes out the room back to me, who's keeping watch.

"Alright, you got the little squirt," I state. "Let's go!"

"Not so fast," a voice says from behind us. I immediately recognize it as the one from the woods. The one that was also Homare's interrogator. "I never gave you permission to leave."

"Don't care," I tell them, turning to the Shiny Trevenant. "You have zero power over us!"

"How wrong you are," they respond. Their eye grows brighter and the walls burst with vines that go to grab us. I Slash through each one that's coming for me and Homare barely manages to maneuver around them while protecting the child. I know my parnter can't fight with the kid, so I'll have to do this whole fight solo.

"You made a bad decision to come back for us," I state as I curl my fingers, forming an Ice Punch. "Should have just let us go."

"Well, you trespassed into my forest," the shiny replies. "I can't let the two of you go without proper punishment."

The enemy digs their claws into the ground, vines thicker than before come flying at me quickly. I rid my fist of the ice and switch to my blades, chopping through the incoming attack with Psycho Cut. "Get out of here, Homare," I shout without looking at him.

"I'm not gonna leave you," he tells me before avoiding a vine that tried to sneak upon him.

"You being here puts the kid in danger. You have to go," I say. I'm not aggressive with my words, but my tone still allows no room for argument. The Armarouge is hesitant to go, but he looks down at Evan and sighs.

"Alright," he mumbles, turning and running out to safety with the kid. Trevenant attempts to stop him with a Power Whip, but Psycho Cut it before the attack can get my partner.

"Just you and me," I tell the kidnapper.

"Soon just me," they state as they launch Shadow Balls at me. I twist out the way of the purple orb then rush in with Ice Punch. My opponent falls into a Phantom Force right before I can hit, avoiding the attack.

"Don't coward away," I shout, my voice echoing through the dirt hallway. "Come out and finish the fight you started!"

Suddenly, I get hit from behind as the shiny comes back through a portal. "I never ran away," the Trevenant tells me. "I'm not going until you're out cold. Lucky for me this place is already six feet under, so I won't have to bother with digging your grave."

I chuckle dryly and glare at them. "Lucky for me I'll be getting out of here alive." I dash forward, using Agility to speed up as I go. Shiny Trevenant hollers as they unleash a Power Whip, this time not to grab me but actually hit. I bob and weave through the jungle of vines, narrowly avoiding damage. I'm now right on the opponent and pull my fist back for Ice Punch.

"Good try," Trevenant tells me as they go to drop into another Phantom Force. However, my Agility gave me the speed needed to beat them to the move and I strike them before they can escape, completely encasing the shiny in ice.

"Good try, indeed," I say with a smirk. I consider continuing the fight, hitting them while they're frozen, but honestly I don't need to show off. I can leave while they're immobile and get back to Homare safely, avoiding any unnecessary combat. "I'd say I'll see you later, but I really hope I won't."

With that, I rush out the tunnel, ready to return to my compadre.

Homare's Point of View

I'm pacing a few yards away from the entrance to the underground lair me and Lance were in as I wait for my partner to get out. It's been a little over ten minutes and he's still not here. I don't know why I left him. I should have stayed and helped! I doubt he can handle such a powerful enemy alone but yet that's what I'm making him do. I'm about to go back in, but then the little boy we saved speaks up, reminding me why I left.

"Will your friend be okay," Evan asks, watching me pace with concern. I freeze and think about this before walking back to him with an expression I hope is confident.

"Oh, yeah! I know he'll be fine," I lie as I sit next to him. "Lance is very strong. He once saved a Gardevoir from an aggressive Dragonite with only a single hit!"

Evan's eyes are wide with surprise. "Really," he asks in awe. I know I shouldn't deceive the child, but I don't want him to be worried, too, so I nod.

"Yup," I reply, feeling a bit of joy as the boy relaxes. "Lance is one of the strongest Pokémon you'll ever meet!"

Yeah, I know. That is an extremely big lie that nobody that has spent five minutes with Lance would believe. However, the child buys it and is now completely calm. "So how much longer until he'll get out," the Eevee inquires.

"You won't have to wait anymore," a very familiar voice says that fills me with happiness and relief. I look up and see Lance approaching. "I made it!"

"Oh, thank Arceus," I exclaim as I push myself off the ground and rush over to the Gallade, hugging him tightly. The Blade Pokémon goes rigid from the unusual contact, but quickly relaxes, embracing me back.

"Why are you so happy to see him," Evan questions as I let go of Lance. "You said he's super powerful and we didn't need to worry."

"Oh did you now," Lance asks, looking at me with a smirk. I roll my eyes and push past him, trying to play it off. I'm lucky I don't have a mouth because I would have a wide smile that would betray my act.

"Yeah, I did. But now's not the time to talk about that," I state, picking the rescued kid up. "We need to focus on getting Evan home and returning to the village."

"Alright, let's go," Lance says as we set off to get this child back to his parents.

30 minutes later

Me and Lance get back to the village right at sunset. We're both tired from the climactic events of today and ready to crash in the comfy hotel beds. "You know, you were right," Lance says as we walk down the street. "It was definitely worth it saving Evan. You can't put a price tag on his parents' reaction."

I nod with a soft expression. "Yeah," I agree. The kid's mom and dad broke into tears on sight of him, immediately rushing out to us to embrace their son. It was incredibly wholesome and even brought tears to my own eyes. "Makes getting held prisoner almost forever fine, huh?"

"I wouldn't go that far," the Gallade replies with a chuckle. Me and him laugh, slowly quieting down after a bit.

"What you did back there was pretty heroic," I tell him. He looks over at me with a confused expression. "How you sacrificed yourself to get me and Evan out safely. That's very admirable."

"Oh, yeah, that," he exclaims. "Yeah, well, I was just doing what needed done. It's no big deal."

"That's very unlike you to say," I say back, shocked at the humble response. "Normally you would be flaunting the action around, bragging to everyone about how great you were."

Lance just shrugs without saying anything back. I can't tell if something I said had upset him or not, but I don't get to ask because there's suddenly a loud scream from behind us. We turn to look and see an Absol dashing down the road, howling and pushing people out the way.

"You're all in grave danger," she shouts, shoving past me and my companion. "Toinight, this village will be attacked!"

Well this felt long!

I started it a week ago, had a really good thing going, had to stop, continued yesterday without remember how I want ed events to go down, found a new groove, then had to stop again and the same thing happened

Anyways, I hope y'all still like it, even if it's a bit choppy from where I had to stop

Also, I can't tell if Lance and Homare's relationship is feeling romantic

That's not what I'm going for but there are times where I'm writing it and think "well that got a bit weird"

I wouldn't mind it if that's the vibe I was going for

Anyways, enough of my ranting

@Dragonfly102024 @Thur55555555555 @UnovanZorua @fineasmatei @Voltareon2012

Enjoy!