CHAPTER 38
SHANA'S POV

"Hey, shut up!" the Tangrowth holding me shouted as I continued to scream Flare's name.

I ignored him and continued screaming. "FLARE!" All I wanted was for him to reply, to show that he was still alive. If he wasn't, I didn't see any point in living anymore...

"FLARE!"

"Shut up!" the Tangrowth yelled again. He carried me and my parents to a hole at the side of the escape tunnel. When I saw how dark it was and how much it went underground, I was overcome with pure terror. I struggled with all my might and the Tangrowth had to stop to secure me more.

As I struggled, I saw a large boulder suddenly levitate and hover over the Tangrowth's head. I caste a sidelong look and saw my mom control it with Psychic; the Tangrowth was too busy restraining me to notice. After a few seconds, my mom smashed the boulder onto the Tangrowth's head and momentarily dazed him. My dad was able to free his mouth and fired Hyper Beam at the Tanrgowth's stomach causing him to drop all three of us.

As soon as I hit the ground, I made a beeline for Flare ignoring my parents telling me to go back. The Tangrowth recovered and used Grass Knot to trip me and I slammed painfully into the ground.

"Shana!" I heard my dad yell. I saw him use Quick Attack to get to me but he was also tripped my a Grass Knot. The Tangrowth charged at him but my mom knocked him to the wall with Signal Beam.

The Tangrowth recovered and held up two things: a Salac Berry and Enigma Berry. I told my parents who hadn't noticed this to run but he used the Salac Berry and fired Natural Gift. It became a sphere of white light that slammed into my forehead and sent me crashing into the wall.

Vaguely, I heard my parents shout my name. Really weak, I saw the Tangrowth use the Enigma Berry and fire a rainbow beam at my parents. They, like me, were knocked into the wall and didn't have enough strength to get up. The Tangrowth restrained us again and head down the tunnel as if nothing had happened. As soon as I realized how far underground I was, I panicked but I was too weak. I slowly closed my and passed out.

"Shana...Shana...wake up..." my dad's voice came. I groaned a little and his face went from blurry to clear.

"Did I...pass out?" I asked.

"Yeah you did." my mom replied. I saw that we were inside a cage and that we were under ground.

"How long was I out?"

"Hours. We were thrown in here to keep us prisoners." my dad said.

Being underground, I was terrified and I just wanted to get out. I got to my feet and drove them into the ground but I just ended up hurting myself.

"I can't Dig out of here." I said.

"The bar are also attack proof so we can't blast our way out of here." my mom said. "I can't even use Psychic to pick up stuff out of here."

"But there has to be a way of of here!" I said desperately.

"There isn't any Shana." my dad said. He clenched his fists angrily. "You, me and your mom, we're all going to die because of Flare." He walked over and grabbed the bars. "I can't believe this!"

"Dad," I said walking towards him. "Flare didn't mean any of this."

"He's a rebel Shana." my dad said facing me. "All the rebels ever wanted was the three of us dead."

I shook my head. I just had to make him understand. "No not Flare. He never wanted this to happen."

"He was sent to kill you Shana." my dad asserted.

"Yeah maybe so but he never wanted me dead." I said. "He loves me dad and...and I love him...and-"

"No." My dad held up his paw. "He's a rebel Shana; I don't want you anywhere near him."

I stared at him shocked. "I love him dad. I-"

"Shana, Flare gave valuable information to Dart; he put us all in danger."

"He never intended any of this to happen." My tone rose slightly. "I'm sure that if he could've stopped all of this, he would've. If we get out of here-"

"If we get out of here Shana and if we do win this thing in the end, I'll treat him like any other rebel and deal with him accordingly. In fact, I'll make sure we never see him again."

My heart sunk at that thought, of never seeing Flare again. "No dad...please..."

"Shana, I don't want any of us to be in any more danger."

"Flare's not dangerous!" I almost shouted. "He's brave, he's caring, he's-"

"A rebel." my dad finished. "I don't want you anywhere near him Shana."

"Dad-"

But my mom spoke this time. "Shana please, Flare's already done enough damage today. Who knows what else may happen if you stick with him?"

I couldn't believe this...My parents were telling me never to see Flare again. No..."You guys..." I felt close to tears.

"I'm not so sure about you loving him either." my dad said and I turned to him shocked. "You might just end up pouring your heart out to him giving him more secrets to-"

"No. Flare's not like that!" I said shaking my head. "He'd never do anything like that!"

"Shana, these feeling of yours to him will just hurt you more. Why can't you understand that your dad and I want to prevent that?" my mom said pleadingly.

Miserable, I closed my eyes and covered them with my shaky paws. "No...I love...I love..."

"Flare is a rebel Shana and rebels want all of us dead." my dad said slowly in a raised voice. "He is our enemy."

Absolutely fed up, I uncovered my eyes and glared angrily at both of them. "Well who are you to say that I can't love someone who's supposed to be my enemy!"

That shut both of my parents up good; the arguments stopped and I slumped down and leaned against the bars. I don't care what anyone else thinks; I love Flare and I won't let anyone stop me from doing that, especially my parents.

Suddenly, the door burst open revealing the figure of Flare alive and well. "Flare!" I shouted. I was so glad to see him still alive that I nearly cried.

"Shana." he said. He ran over to the cell and held the bars. I held him paws and we both smiled. "I'm going to get you all out of here. I promise."

Unfortunately, my dad wasn't as glad as I was to see Flare. "You," he said with an angry look. "If this is some trick-"

"I swear Shade. This isn't a trick." Flare took out a key and inserted it into the lock. A clicking sound later and the door swung open; I wanted so much to leap into Flares arms but my dad stepped between us.

"We'll discuss you when this is all over." he said seriously.

Flare nodded. "I understand." He turned around and went for the door.

"And Flare," my dad added. Flare turned around; my dad paused for a few seconds before saying: "You're fired."

Wow, like that really mattered right now. Flare just nodded slowly. "Yeah well, I'm still gonna protect your daughter. C'mon, we have to go."

With Flare leading us, me and my parents left the room and entered the main tunnel. My mom then gasped and turning, we saw a tired Murkrow head for us. Instinctively, my dad ran up in front of us ready to fight.

"Relax, I won't do anything." he said stopping suddenly.

"It's cool. He's with me." Flare said. "Salem, you find the nearest exit?"

Salem? "Wait, you're that Murkrow Flare and I saw!" I said recognizing him.

"And you must be Shana; Flare's told me about you." Salem replied.

"Uh Salem, exit?" Flare reminded.

"Ah yes, this way."

With Salem leading, the five of us ran down the empty tunnel. I couldn't believe the rebels were able to build this kind of thing run under my dad's nose. Eventually, we came across a large cavern with a high ceiling.

"The exit's right there." Salem said pointing at a pathway on the other end. The five of us ran forward but halfway, Flare stopped and turned around.

"Damn it." he said and we all stopped. "Salem, get Shana and her family to safety. I'll hold them off as long as I can."

"Hold what off?" I asked him.

Before he could answer, several bursts of blue flames shot out of the tunnel we just left. We scattered to avoid them but someone using Flame Wheel came out and went right for Flare. He fired Extrasensory forcing his attacker to be knocked back. The attack ended and a Ninetales landed in front of the tunnel; another Ninetales showed up next to him.

"Oh this's just perfect." Flare muttered. "Shade, I'd like you to meet my parents Pyro and Cynder."

"You traitor!" Cynder shouted. Her tails pointed outwards and their tips were covered in the blue flames of Will-o-Wisp; she looke very menacing. She fired them at Flare who barely dodged it.

"Salem, get Shana and her parents out now!" Flare shouted.

I went to Flare and grabbed his arm. "I'm not leaving you Flare."

"Shana, we have to go." my dad said.

"I'm not leaving him!" I shouted.

"Shana..." Flare began but I silenced him by holding up my paw.

"I will never leave you Flare. I will be right by your side no matter what." I told him.

"But Shana-"

"Good, don't leave! That way we can kill all off you together!" Pyro yelled firing a Flamethrower at me. I dodged and readied myself to counter attack but then my dad shot a Hyper Beam and hit Pyro.

"How dare you try to hurt my daughter!" he yelled. Pyro recovered and used Flame Wheel to travel around us until he was blocking the tunnel out of here.

"It seems like we have to fight our way out of here." Salem said.

"Maybe not." my mom said. "Cover me for one minute and when I say so, run as fast as you can for the exit."

My dad nodded. "Mom, what're you-"

Cynder's Will-o-Wisp stopped me from finishing. I countered with my Shadow Ball and canceled out the attack. Pyro rolled in with Flame Wheel and dodged Salem's Dark Pulse. Flare's Extrasensory was also dodged, and my dad used swift which hit him and knocked him back. Cynder ran toward us while rapidly firing Will-o-Wisp and I ran up to counter her. A volley of blue flames came my way but I made copies of myself to take the attack. I used Iron Tail and knocked Cynder several feet back but she landed on her feet.

"Well mom?" I whispered.

"Almost there." she replied with closed eyes.

At the same time, Pyro and Cynder fired their Flamethrowers. Flare, Salem, my dad and I split up and countered the two streams of flames. Together, Flare's Extrasensory and my Shadow Ball stopped Cynder's Flamethrower in its tracks and the same went for my dad and Salem. Together, the four of us stalled them for several seconds until my mom looked at the ceiling and gave a loud cry.

More than fifty of my mom's Future Sights appeared and fired upwards; all of us stopped what we were doing and my mom shouted: "RUN!"

As soon as her Future Sights hit the ceiling, the entire cave shuddered violently. Several large boulders began to fall forcing Pyro and Cynder to retreat back the way they came. Following them, the five of us ran as fast as we could dodging every boulder that blocked our way.

My mom and Salem reached the exit tunnel first. I saw one boulder fall right on top of me. My dad was next and blasted a boulder that was about to hit me. He shouted at me to run faster and I did.

"Look out!" he shouted pointing at a boulder headed right for me. I didn't have time to dodge it.

Suddenly, Flare used Quick Attack and knocked me into the tunnel. I recovered and looked back just to see a large boulder fall right on top of him.

"Flare!" I screamed; I lunged forward to help him but more boulders fell and blocked the path. "Flare!"

"Shana, there's no time!" my dad yelled but then I saw Salem blast apart the rock with Dark Pulse; he seemed to be as determined to save Flare as I was. I helped him with Iron Tail and we smashed our way through several rocks.

Finally, we found his paw sticking out of a very large boulder. I smashed it to pieces and ran to his side. "Flare...c'mon Flare, answer me."

He didn't but his slow breathing told me that he was unconscious. "How is he?" Salem asked walking up to me.

"He's fine, just knocked out." I saw I looked at him and said: "Thank you." even though he couldn't here me. I kissed his forehead and slung him on my back. Salem and I went to my parents.

"That should stop anyone else from pursuing us." my mom said eying the mess she made. She suddenly wobbled a bit and my dad caught her.

"You alright Shine?" he asked worriedly.

She nodded. "I'm fine; I haven't made that many Future Sights in a long time."

"So where now?" Salem asked.

"When we get to the surface, we'll find out where we are and head to our nearest safe house." my dad said going up the tunnel, my mom following. Salem followed and, still carrying Flare, so did I.