Dungeon 5 - Thunderstruck: Part 2
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Lance and Brian continued making their way forward for their mission through the cave. Lance ran forward with a serious, determined expression, his breaths short and fast. Brian followed behind, an apprehensive look on his face. The tunnel they dashed through was illuminated only by a light at the end.
I think we're gonna die from boredom if I don't do something, Brian thought. What to do, what to do… Need to think of the perfect joke here, something to lighten the mood!
"Hey Lance, why did the Wailmer cross the road?" Brian said in an attempt to break the ice.
Lance took a long, tedious sigh. A joke he heard so many times, what was his brother doing?
"Brian, now's not the time for jokes. This is serious, can't you see that?!" He snapped, turning to face the Zorua.
The Zorua whimpered, ears drooping both from the reaction and the noise Lance made. Well, his brother did have a point, but did Lance really need to be so obnoxious about it?
As they approached the end of the tunnel, they could hear voices ahead. Team Liberators stopped to catch their breath and listen in on their enemies.
"Ha! You sure know how to let a 'mon know who's boss, Teslan!" one of the Pokémon said smugly. "I'd like to see those townsfolk try to stiff us again!"
"Tch, all in a day's work. And it's better than what those useless birds deserve." the leader said, eating a piece of unknown meat.
"They're not useless..." Teslan and his goons froze and whirled around as they hear a young, yipping voice. There, at the entrance of their burrow was a Riolu, followed by a Zorua. Teslan blinked a moment and stood up, carefully scanning the pair with his body tense and ready to pounce at a moment's notice.
"You two aren't from around here, are you?" he said with an unimpressed scoff.
Lance took one look at his brother and scoffed back at the Luxray, keeping a devious grin on his face. As for Brian, he began to shiver, but it stopped once he laid eyes on how brave his brother was at the moment.
"We are Team Liberators!" Brian said, taking one step forward. "And there's no way we'll just watch what you do to those villagers!"
Snarls and meows filled the area, along with countless pairs of glowing, yellow eyes: Shinx. They surrounded Brian and Lance, while their leader simply laughed.
"Tell me... when did you graduate from the guild?" Teslan scoffed. "How old are you? Why, you're just a couple of kids!"
The large Luxray began roaring, charging electricty around his body. As if on cue, the Shinx did the same, snarling and poofing their furs up to intimidate the siblings.
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"In case you haven't noticed, but this isn't your guild," the Luxray sneered. "Children like you should be at home. If you turn around here, I'll let you skip off in one piece back to where you belong."
Lance closed his eyes for a moment, ignoring the Luxray's comments, before he opened them with indignant fire smoldering in them.
"And from what I could see, you're an idiot who thinks you can bully others around because of nothing but your strength... the type of guy I hate the most!"
Teslan clicked his tongue, unleashing just a tiny bit of electricity. It landed right next to Lance, though the Riolu didn't even flinch from it. The Luxray quirked a brow, curious, but ignored it for the moment, feeling his blood boil.
"Learn to take a hint, kid," he growled. "You may have got past our guard, but just take a look around you! What do you think you can do to us!"
Lance merely extended his right arm, inviting the Luxray to do his worse. He kept grinning.
"You act all high and mighty for a criminal." Lance replied, letting a loud laugh. "With that being said… I'm willing to strike a deal. Let's do this one-on-one, you and me. You win? Do whatever you want with me and Brian," he pointed to the Zorua.
It made Brian gasp from shock. Then came the anger, his eyes started to get teary as he looked at his brother.
"Lance?! What are you talking about?! Do you want to face this guy alone?!" Brian protested. "There's no way I'm letting you do this!"
Teslan blinked for a moment, before breaking into laughter, continuing on until tears began to come out of his eyes. The Luxray wiped the droplets away with his paw, and then looked down at Lance, still laughing as his muzzle curled up into a taunting smirk.
"Are you serious, kid? Do you really think you can beat me in combat?" the Luxray asked. "I'm a Luxray, a mighty and powerful warrior! Next to me, you're nothing!"
"Yes, yes I do," Lance retorted, before pointing to his head. "Because from what I've seen from the way you fight, I can outsmart a dumb bully like you anyday!"
Brian opened his mouth to protest but was barred by two Shinx who stepped in front of him and cut off his way. Lance looked back, slowly tilting his head, as if he wanted his brother to understand. The Zorua then stopped moving, deciding to pay attention to the fight.
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Teslan blinked his eyes, then shook his head, chuckling and licking his teeth.
"Tch, it's your funeral, kid. I gave you a chance to run away, but if you wanna die so badly, then so be it!" the Luxray stepped into fighting position, staring at Lance with a murderous look.
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Right after saying that, Lance took the time to measure their distance, five meters, give or take. He put his backpack on the ground, taking out a fire-shaped seed and enclosing it in his fist. The tension in the cave's air was thick enough to cut with a Metal Claw. The Riolu half-expected Teslan to lunge at him at a moment's noticed, but it seemed that like him, he was waiting for an opportunity to start the fight on the best possible footing. Then, suddenly, the lion fired an electrical discharge in the area. A huge flash filled the makeshift arena, as both Lance and the Pokémon spectating on the sidelines instinctively covered their eyes. As Lance warily cracked his eyes open again, he at once noticed that the color of the burrow had taken on yellowish tones, electricity crackling around.
"Electric Terrain," Lance remarked, as he backed away and took a look around.
"Exactly, so you're not as dumb as you look... now, let's go!" Teslan roared. Teslan shot forward, an electric aura enveloping his body as he charged. Much to Lance's alarm, the Luxray proved to be surprisingly nimble, and before he knew it, Teslan had rammed his body against his and sent him flying.
The Riolu hit the wall, and felt the air get knocked out of his lungs before he fell forward onto his face. On the opposite side of the cave, Teslan was pacing back and forth the cave, shaking his head, along with grunting. Lance quirked a brow, realizing it had to be Wild Charge. Meanwhile, Brian just watched, thinking about what he could do, but the numerous Shinx in front of him prevented him of doing anything.
Lance stood up, spitting out a little blood and wiping his face with his paw. Then he bolted forward, crossing his arms in an "X" shape before leaping at the bandit leader. Teslan saw the inbound Riolu and immediately picked up his pace, dashing away at such speed that his body was barely able to be seen. Lance braced his arms for his Cross Chop, only to feel an overpowering blow at his stomach, seeing that Teslan had beat him to the punch with a headbutt.
Lance smiled as the lion struck him, this was exactly the opening he'd been waiting for. At once, he threw the seed Lance had been concealing in his hand forward. Sparks flew once it hit Teslan, igniting in the air instantly, the knockback pushing them both away from each other.
"Lance!" Brian shouted. The Zorua pushed forward, trying to run to help his teammate, only to get wrestled back by the Shinx in Teslan's entourage.
On the other side, the Luxray got up, panting, breathing in the scent of his burned fur. He growled with rage, furious that a small child had gotten the better of him with a gambit that he should have literally been able to see through.
"Blast Seed. Didn't think you'd have something like that on you, kid," the Luxray growled. "But a surprise only works once. Let's see how long you last without a cheap trick like that!"
Lance stood up, his body visibly bruised. However, he forced himself to stay on his feet. He couldn't let this thug get the better of him, for the sake of him, his brother, and all of Heavenwind, he had to end things fast.
Watching his brother fight was like needles piercing through Brian. All he knew was that he had to do something to help, anything, really. An illusion, maybe. Nothing too huge, since he couldn't anyway.
Brian suddenly had an idea. It was risky and everything rode on pulling it off without anyone seeing him, but what else did he and Brian have to lose at the moment? The Zorua moved away from the Shinx and concentrated, using his illusionary ability to camouflage himself as one of the members of Teslan's pack.
"You did better than I thought, kiddo. But it's time to finish this!" he said, advancing against the child.
As he walked, he felt a blow to his back, making him stumble and fall face down on the ground. Getting up, he looked back and saw a Shinx with a small tuft of red hair on his tail staring at him. Teslan snarled, flicking his tail and baring his fangs at the Shinx.
"What the fuck are you doing?!" The Luxray growled.
Wait... that's... Lance thought as he took a deep breath. A dangerous tactic. But it worked. hehad to trust his brother so they could do the job. After all, they were a team.
And part of the trust was going to be tested now. Lance gathered all the strength he still had in his body and ran at the Luxray, ignoring the bruises peppering his body and the pain he felt in his bones. Making the most of his brother's distraction, he balled a paw up into a fist and pulled it back. He threw his fist forward at Teslan's side, blue energy pouring from his hand.
Lance released that energy in the form of a beam, hitting the Luxray with full force and throwing him in Brian's direction.
At once, Brian jumped up as the Luxray's body tumbled towards him. The Zorua opened his mouth, before spitting up a shadowy sphere at Teslan.
The Shinx ran outside; without their leader, they didn't know what to do. And the Luxio bolted after them right after.
The Luxray hit the ground with a thud, out cold as as soon as he fell over. Lance fell to his knees and his breathing quickened; from the smell and the sounds he heard, Lance noticed he was losing blood.
"Lance!"
Brian ran in to his brother's aid his brother, looking around.
The Zorua ignored Teslan's fleeing underlings and dug through his backpack, taking some strips to wrap around Lance's wound. Teslan would wake up eventually, but the priority at the moment was stabilizing his sibling.
"C-Come on, Lance. We need to get you out of here."
Placing his brother's arm around his body, the Zorua began ruffling through their bags, looking for an Escape Orb to get them out of the cave. He had to be fast, or his brother would die.
He eventually found one, causing his eyes to sparkle in joy, and Brian soon smashed it into bits.
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Outside of the cave, the Ledian spotted the two and immediately after seeing Lance straggle in with his bloodied chest, rushed the two brothers to the local hospital. As soon as they arrived, the Riolu was rushed to a hospital room, while Brian was left waiting in a room decorated with white walls and some chairs, pacing about in panic.
"I-It's Lance, he'll be alright. He's not going to die... he's not going to die..." he said, repeating the reassurance to himself. Walking in circles, time seemed to stand still while he waited, some of the other patients even showed up, only furthering his panic, since they weren't his brother.
Finally, after what to him seemed to be hours, a Doduo wearing a stethoscope walked up to his side. One of its heads was smiling, while the other had a frown.
"Your brother is stable," one of the Doduo's heads said to the boy.
"He should recover completely in a few days," the other head spoke.
Listening to what the doctor's words, Brian gave a sigh of relief and cracked a broad smile, wagging his tail. Thank goodness Lance was doing alright. After that fight with Teslan, he wasn't sure for a while whether or not his brother was going to pull through.
"Thanks, doctor... doctors..." he said, hopping into a nearby chair.
"You can visit him soon, and... we'd like to thank you for standing up to that gang… well, after we notify the authorities."
Hearing another thank you made him chirp happily, tail wagging. Then it hit him on how Teslan was still there, inside the dungeon, alive and well, just… knocked out.
"I'm gonna send a letter to the guild back home, they can help deal with his arrest too! It's just… Lance and I are kinda busy, alright? And I'm worried."
"Alright."
Team Liberators had managed to remove the gang from the lives of these villagers, but at the moment, they had wounds to lick and recover from. And beyond that, the next step in their journey on towards Bright Dawn.