Chapter 9: Escape

It's month three for Tony Stark and his fellow prisoners since they met and have concocted a plan of escape. They are in the cave finishing up the final piece of the suit when the guard announces something from the other side stopping all three of them in their tracks. They follow the procedure and feel a chill in their spines when the leader Raza enters along with his equally terrifying Houndoom and Mandibuzz. Houndoom and Mandibuzz intimidate Rani in a corner while Raza chats with Tony and Yinsen.

"Relax." Raza says to both men who put their arms down. "The bow and arrow once was the pinnacle of weapons technology. It allowed the great Genghis Khan to rule from the Pacific to the Ukraine. An empire twice the size of Alexander the Great and four times the size of the Roman Empire. But today, whoever holds the latest Stark weapons rules these lands. And soon, it will be my turn"

Raza asked Yinsen in Arabic, "Why have you failed me?"

"Were working. Diligently."

"I let you live. This is how you repay me?" Rani silently cursed the man who thinks they should be grateful to these murderers who imprisoned them.

Yinsen tried to convince the terrifying man, "It's' very complex. He's trying very hard." Raza however wasn't convinced.

"On his knees." Rani's heart skipped a beat as she knew what the madman intended for her friend, two of his men force him on his knees while Raza pokes at the fire nearby. Rani tries to move forward but Mandibuzz uses his leer attack to make her stand still while Houndoom tackles her to the ground preparing a flamethrower in case their master commands it. Despite not translating their words Tony could tell that their plan was on the brink of being exposed before they began it.

Raza was on to them, "You think I'm a fool? I'll get the truth."

"We're both working." Yinsen hoped to ease the monster's paranoia.

Raza held a red-hot piece of coal in the tongs he's holding and menacingly approached Yinsen, "Open your mouth." Rani could do nothing but whimper as she was angled to observe her friend being prepared for torture, she could tell that Tony was just as anxious for Yinsen.

Tony asked, "What does he want?"

"You think I'm a fool?" Raza asked Yinsen.

"What's going on?"

Raza ignored the billionaire and put the burning coal a few inches away from Yinsen's face, "Tell me the truth." Rani tried getting up but Houndoom's grip tightened up painfully.

Yinsen tried to keep up their act, "He's building your Jericho." But Raza was smarter than that

"Tell me the truth!"

"He's building your Jericho!" The coal was now a mere inch away from burning the man's mouth."

Tony was having none of it and took a few steps forward, "What do you want? A delivery date?" Unfortunately, the other men yelled and raised their guns at him as well as their Pokémon getting in attack mode. Tony saw that they needed him to build their weapon, so he decided to use it to his advantage to save Yinsen and Rani.

"I need them. Good assistants." He made his voice calm to give Raza the impression that he will use his fellow prisoners just like Raza is using him. His plan worked because Raza dropped the coal in front of Yinsen's face and commanded his Pokémon to release Rani who appears shaken by the experience.

"You have 'til tomorrow, to assemble my missile." With that Raza and his men exit the cave leaving the three prisoners to look at each other.

Yinsen spoke first, "Do we have everything we need for Raza tomorrow Stark?" He spoke in a vague manner to not raise the guard's suspicions, Rani looked at Tony with a questioning look wondering the same thing.

"Yes we do Yinsen, so let's not disappoint them."


Today was the day that their plan was to put in motion and the three of them could not be more nervous, nevertheless they are determined to escape their prison or at least die trying. Yinsen helped Tony put the heavy iron suit on while Rani was putting in the code for the power sequence. Tony was already in his suit minus the mask with Yinsen and Rani putting in the final touches.

"Okay? Can you move?" The suit was heavy but Tony was able to move his arms, "Okay, say it again."

"41 steps straight ahead. Then 16 steps, that's from the door, fork right, 33 steps, turn right." Thanks to his near photographic memory Tony was able to memorize the steps towards the exit perfectly. Raza was onto them because a man ran to the door and demanded answers in Hungarian.

"Yinsen! Yinsen! Stark!"

"Say something. Say something back to him."

"He's speaking Hungarian. I don't- "Hungarian wasn't on the list of languages Rani and Yinsen understood.

"Then speak Hungarian."

"Okay. I know."

"What do you know?" Yinsen tried to seize the man in Hungarian but they weren't fools, fortunately Tony attached a makeshift bomb to the door so that anyone who enters will literally be blown away.

Tony was turned away from the door so he couldn't see the damage, "How'd that work?"

Rani was shocked at the amount of damage Tony was able to inflict from a small device, "Oh, my goodness. It worked all right."

"That's what I do." They went back to work at a fast pace as they know that Raza and his men will arrive any minute now.

"Let me finish this."

"Initialize the power sequence."

"Okay." While Yinsen was on the computer Rani was on Tony's shoulder's drilling some bolts in the suit.

"Now!

"Tell me. Tell me."

"Function 11. Tell me when you see a progress bar. It should be up right now."

"Yes."

"Talk to me. Tell me when you see it."

"I have it."

"Press Control "l"."

""I." Got it."

""I." "Enter."" Rani could hear the impeding footsteps towards them and worked faster towards the bolts, "Come over here and button me up."

"Okay. All right." Rani can't reach the chest so Yinsen has to do it, the three grew more anxious by the second.

"Every other hex bolt."

Yinsen said nervously, "They're coming!"

"Nothing pretty, just get it done. Just get it done."

"They're coming." Rani jumped off the suit and was ready to fight the men along with Tony.

"Make sure the checkpoints are clear before you follow me out, okay?"

"We need more time." Yinsen's desperate tone made Rani turn around to face him only to be met with a red light from a great ball held by Yinsen. Since a great ball is stronger than a Pokéball Rani wasn't able to resist capture.

Tony asked nervously, "Why did you put her in there?" Yinsen put the ball in a small pocket inside the suit

"I'm gonna go buy you some time."

Tony could see that Yinsen was planning a suicide attack, "Stick to the plan! Stick to the plan!" But the bald man didn't listen as he picked up the stray rifle and ran towards the heavily armed men, "Yinsen! Yinsen!"


Riolu was in another world inside the ball, the ball showed her the desert where she grew up surrounded by mountains. She could lightly hear gunshots form the outside and felt panicked for Tony and Yinsen, if Yinsen put her in her ball then that means he didn't want her to stop him from doing something dangerous.

I'm not gonna stay here while my friends are out there fighting those murderer's, Rani was surprised that she considered Tony her friend as well, but this wasn't the time to ponder. She focused all her energy on getting out of the ball, she knows that Pokémon can escape the ball by focusing on the outside world. She's imagining herself fighting Raza and his Pokémon and finally escaping that cave along with Tony and Yinsen. After a couple of minutes Rani burst out of the ball and found herself back in the dark cage.

She burst out just as Tony's suit was finally activated, she ran past him and the guards shooting at lightning speed. She must've been a blur to them as they didn't point and shoot her. Raza's Houndoom and Mandibuzz appeared in front of her.

Mandibuzz sneered, "Thought you could escape that easily did you?"

"We were able to fool your stupid master for months so yeah" Rani snapped back only to be met with a tackle attack from Houndoom, she quickly dodged it and hit Mandibuzz square on his beak. She ran as fast as she could to get to Yinsen, the other men ran past barely noticing as they were focused on the man with a heavy artillery suit. Unfortunately Houndoom tackled her from behind, Rani panicked beneath him her arms were held down and she looked up at the sinister looking dark Pokémon.

Houndoom darkly chuckled, "You three actually thought you could escape with a suit of armor and a baby Pokémon? You're just as pathetic as your parents and soon you'll be joining them." Rani was shaken with anger and grief and she screeched as loud as she could stopping Houndoom in his tracks. Houndoom crouched on the floor and covered his ears with his paws. Rani stopped screeching long enough to use focus punch and mega kick on the cruel dog.

"That's for my parents you bastard!" Rani resumed running towards the entrance and was stopped dead in her tracks to see Yinsen in the corner with a gunshot wound on his stomach. She ran towards him ignoring the man pointing a gun at them, Rani took his hand with tears in her eyes. Not again…please Arceus not again! Rani heard large footsteps and saw Tony walking towards them.

Tony called out, "Yinsen!"

"Watch out!" The armed man shot at Tony only to be met with a missile that caused rocks to collapse on him. Tony crouched down hoping along with Rani that they can get their friend out of here alive.

Yinsen was getting weaker, "Stark."

"Come on. We got to go. Move for me, come on. We got a plan. We're gonna stick to it."

"This was always the plan, Stark." Rani was too sad to be mad at her friend for being willing to commit suicide.

"Come on, you're gonna go see your family. Get up." Rani was confused as she saw Yinsen's family being killed by the Ten Rings.

"My family is dead. I'm going to see them now, Stark. It's okay. I want this. I want this. Protect Rani." Rani was touched that even close to death Yinsen wanted her to be safe, "and you protect him too." Rani nodded even with her vision being blurred by tears.

Tony promised as well, "I will. Thank you for saving me."

Yinsen spit his last words out, "Don't waste it. Don't waste your life Stark." Yinsen closed his eyes and passed in front of Tony and Rani. Tony heard the man outside and knew that they weren't done yet, Rani was too distressed over seeing her friend die to care.

"Come on we gotta move." Tony tried pulling her away from Yinsen's body, but she swatted his iron hands away, "Listen if we don't get out of here, they're not gonna keep us in a cage you understand? They're gonna kill us." Rani shook her head as if saying "just let me die" Tony felt sad for this little Pokémon who in her short life lost everyone she ever cared about, but he wasn't gonna leave her to die not after promising Yinsen he'd protect her.

"I know your upset I am too but if you're not gonna escape for you then do it for Yinsen…please." Rani was silent for a moment and realized that Yinsen didn't sacrifice his life for her to end hers in this hellhole. After calming down a bit she turned towards Tony and nodded her head.

"Okay, just hold on to my back and hope that none of the bullets go through the suit." Rani climbed onto his back and held on for dear life. Tony stomped towards the exit only to be met with numerous bullets, despite the shaking Rani was able to hold on and avoid the bullets.

After they ran out Tony said, "My turn." Rani looked over his shoulder to see Tony using his flamethrowers to burn the men as well as all his weapons. Despite snipers giving them some trouble Tony was able to ignite a bomb from the site and fly away with Rani holding onto his shoulder while the camp exploded. However, they only felt victorious for a few seconds as the flying mechanism's shortened and Rani slipped off his shoulders and landed in the sand a few miles away from the camp. The impact caused Rani to pass out.