Runo's Prince

Chapter 21

Guilt, Think, and Plan

Having succeeded in tricking Hydron into releasing her before a brainwashing process, Runo had to keep this act up in order to obtain full trust and access to certain parts of the castle. More importantly, the dungeon to rescue her friends and the Bakugan before it was to late. Course there was no way she would be getting into the dungeon now what with the extra guards on patrol and she wasn't allowed to go anywhere without a guard to watch her. If not for the guards she could sneak to the dungeon to release her friends and escape with them.

Its a complicated situation she has right now. How to get into the dungeon and rescue the others without getting caught? If Runo cannot rescue her friends than who will? Questions and problems, will they ever get resolved? Perhaps they would but it's a long shot. the only thing Runo can do now is go along with what Hydron tells her until she comes up with a new plan, or until her friends can find their own way out.

She sat alone in her room for what felt like hours. No sound but her breathing and the ticking of an old grandfather clock were heard. She had not moved from her spot on the bed since she was brought back into this room and locked in. Awaiting for someone to come and get her. Her life had taken an unexpected twist where fate was playing a cruel game with her that she couldn't win.

Silence.

Pain.

Heartack.

These are the feelings and actions happening to Runo right now. If she stepped out of line she was dead, if she tried to bust her friends out they and herself would be dead, but if she didn't do anything they'd be dead.

Its funny how after being captured, tricked, fooled, and now trapped makes someone like Runo realize that she should have known better than to let herself fall into this devious trick. She was allot smarter then that, but she let it happen anyway. Now her friends were paying a heavy price for her actions; there was no way to go back and fix all this for once something was done there's no turning back. The only thing Runo could do now was think of a way to save her friends and herself.

"I can't just sit here and do nothing. I have to get out and get my friends out." Runo said to herself.

She got off of the bed and walked to the door. She examined it and felt around it to see what she could do. It was a metal door that could only be opened by one of two ways. Either someone had to punch in a code, or if not for lockdown the door would open automatically.

"There's gotta be another way to open this door. I can't just sit here and wait for Hydron or a guard or even one of the Vexos to come in here." Runo told herself.

"Ugh...if I was back in the last room I was in with that secret door I'd be out of here. Now I'm trapped in a room with no exit."

Dropping onto the floor Runo let out a long sigh of defeat and hung her head low. This was going to be a difficult room to escape from. If only she played more of those room escape games with Julie on her computer. There was always something in the room to help get out of it, but what could possibly be in here that could get her out of here?

Bringing her head up, Runo looked around the room at the areas where there could possibly be certain objects to help her escape. There wasn't allot to work with in here from the look of things. Just a vase, hair brush, some makeup, s-wait a minute.

Makeup...

Makeup of course!

There was a control pad in here so what better way to find fingerprints then with the use of makeup? All she needed was some blush and a brush to dust off amy fingerprints from the key pad.

Getting up Runo grabbed the blush that came with a small brush that she took too the key pad and began using the blush to dust for fingerprints. There had to be some on this key board, fingerprints stick to an item once touched, but that's when another problem came to play in her mind.

With all the hands that came and touched the different numbers, how was Runo going to know which number combo to punch in? There's like a million different number combinations used every day, but Runo didn't have much time for guessing games. She had to get to her friends before they were blasted off into the depths of space.

Cause in space, nobody can hear you scream.

(Sorry, couldn't help myself there ^^;)

"I can't let them down, I have to save them from my mistake. Somehow I have to make things right before it's too late, but first I have to get out of here." Runo said to herself.

It was a tough task at hand, but she'd try every combination until she got the right one. Once she finished using the blush Runo was able to make out a couple of fingerprints on a couple of the numbers on the keypad. Turns out only the numbers three, five, seven, one, and six were touched the most. Now to figure out which combination they belong in.

First, Runo tried one, three, seven, six, five, but the keypad showed a red light indicating that was the wrong combo. She tried three, six, five, one, seven next but still a red light shined. Next came seven, five, three, one, six but off goes the red light again.

"Ugh, what's it going to take to get the right combo to open this door?" Runo asked herself feeling frustrated.

She then tried one, six, five, three, seven but no luck. Perhaps one, seven, five, three, six would work? But that was a big fat no. What was she missing to this whole combination process? How many more combinations was she going to have to punch in until she got it right?

"I can't keep punching in different combinations. Dan and the others need my help, and this isn't getting me any closer to helping them out. What am I going to do now?" Runo asked herself rubbing her temples.

"But what if I..."

Grabbing the vase Runo slammed it into the keypad over and over until the keypad was destroied, static was sparking, and the door opened up. Tossing the vase onto the bed, Runo ran out the door and down the hallway to the right. She didn't really know where she was going, but the right hallway seemed like a good way to go.

As Runo ran down the hallway she knew she had to keep her eyes open for any guards. Unfortunately, she might have jinxed herself because at the end of the hallway there were two guards on each side. She quickly stopped right before the guards could spot her, and ran down to the left without stopping.

Her goal was to just keep running down different hallways until she found the correct way too the dungeon. That was bound to take longer than punching in the correct code on the keypad. It was like finding a needle in a haystack. Only with every turn Runo took, guards were in every hallway making her have to run back and take one turn after another.

(Just like in The Breakfast Club with the hallway scene)

Now Runo, she was running down every hallway she came across. She couldn't check every door she passed because there could be more guards hiding out in the room. She keeps running down hallway after hallway until she stops to take a breather. Runo had been running for so long that she had yet to stop for a breathe. She leaned against the wall taking deep breathes while looking around.

Just because she was taking a break didn't mean she should let her guard down. A guard(s) could come out from any side of the hallway and recapture her. If she was recaptured, Hydron wouldn't waste anytime punishing her.

Strictly.

She hurried up with catching her breathe, and made a break for it. The only way Runo was going to find her friends was by being sneaky and trying to listen in on conversations without being caught. Not knowing where to find guards or Vexos Runo's only way to get information and possibly the way too the dungeon was by checking in different rooms. She didn't want to, but it was her only chance of finding her friends before Hydron found her.

"Just keep checking every room; there has to be a clue somewhere around here." Runo thought to herself.

Just then, voices could be heard coming from down the hallway. Runo stopped what she was doing to listen and hear whose voices they belonged to.

It sounded like male voices.

As the sound of footsteps came closer Runo could make out the shadows on the wall.

Shadow, Link, and Gus were coming down the hallway, right where Runo was. Quickly, Runo had to act fast before she was spotted by the Vexos. She ran too the nearest door and went into hiding in this dark room. Feeling around Runo felt what was a box and felt around some more until she finured she found the back of the box and hid behind it.

Very quietly Runo made no sound nor any movement from her hiding spot. Afraid that if she moved or made any sound she'd caused attention outside. She just sat on the ground behind the box, knees close to her chest, and breathing on her knees to make no sound. Who knew how long it would be until it was safe to come back out.

It would only be a matter of time before Runo could come out and make a break for it. Just lay low for a while then continue to run for the dungeon. Depending on where it is and if it can be found. It couldn't be much farther from where she was now. Maybe once the boys were further from where she was she'd try to follow them carefully. She had to task a risk otherwise she'd never get anywhere.

Slowly, Runo turned her head to look from behind the box to the door. There was no light to been seen and hearing noise would be difficult from where she sat right now. To hear the footsteps Runo had to move too the door and put her ear against the wall. Carefully she crawled to the door like a baby, slowly made her way over, and then using her hands she felt for the wall and the door. She placed her ear against the wall and listened for the sound of footsteps.

It wasn't just footsteps she heard walking towards the door, but she heard voices talking.

"I can't believe its gonna be all over soon. We actually won."

"It's not over yet, as long as the Brawlers are around they'll keep fighting to win."

"Boring! Blah, blah, blah! Nobody wants to hear it! Blah, blah, blah!"

Runo rolled her eyes over Shadow's sentence of annoyance; but continued to listen to the boys on going conversation.

"Just know this one thing Shadow, the Brawlers won't stop fighting until Vestroia and the Bakugan are saved. Same goes for rescuing their friend Runo, you saw how Dan went all out to save her."

"Yeah well it's way too late to prevent what's about to come. All the Prince has to do is give the order and its bye bye Brawlers."

That reminder of Hydron needing to just give an order for her friends demise gave Runo goosebumps. She knew she had to get them out before Hydron decided to send them out into space. She just had to wait until the boys left before going out.

The sound of the footsteps came closer to the door until they started to sound softer. The footsteps were soon no longer making any sound. Now seemed like the perfect time to get out and follow; therefore, she stood up, left the room, looked both ways, and then ran carefully after the boys.

What do you think guys?

Will the boys lead Runo to her friends?

Or perhaps something unexpected will happen?

Tune into the next chapter to find out