Chapter 19: So Close, Yet So Far

Air blew through the fur of the depressed Ninetails, making each tear like an ice shard due to the winter like air.

"David, why did you have to be so stupid! You could've just made a run for it…" Jenny's eyes balling like a waterfall. Mourning over the stupidity of her friend David, Cinnamon decided to come over and comfort her. Her tail wrapped around her like a vine, slowly rubbing her back.

"Jenny, he wouldn't want you to cry. He would want you to move on and find your way in life. He truly did love you with all his heart." It wasn't doing much for Jenny, because she was still crying

"Guys, can this wait? Nghh… We are in the middle of escaping now! I get it, your sad, but his sacrifice would be for nothing if we were to get captured and killed! Take the life he has given you, and mold it into something new." Crimson assured Jenny everything was going to be alright as they trudged on through the facility. Angi was filled with worry about the noise they were going to make to much noise.

"Guys, we need to lower our voices. They could still be out there looking for us, and that is the last thing we need right now. So let's quiet down. Crimson, do you have any idea where we are in the facility?" Angi wondered. "Not that I know of Angi."

"Oh. So we're just aimlessly wandering around in their vent system till we find a way out or they find us? Great idea. Hey, how about we just make really loud noises so they can find us?" Luke sarcastically remarked. "Oh, so you think you can come up with a better plan hot shot? Well then go ahead!" Souls body started turning in Luke's arms, but no one had noticed. "Well any plan would be better than yours! Your plan is gonna get us caught!" With great intent to kill, Crimson lunged at Luke, forgetting the fact that Soul was in his arms, and tackled the duo. Luke dropped him so he wouldn't take the full blow of the attack. A large thud echoed through the vents because of the Umbreon being dropped.

"Aghhhh! Aaaarrghh! Jesus! I come out of sleep to see…. Luke?" Soul squinted his still blurry eyes and focused in on the mysterious figure. "Soul? Your awake?!" Everyone quietly asked, not to raise any alarms. "Yeah… if you guys are… where even are we?" Soul asked. Spirit took no time and ran up to him and hugged him. "I missed you so much Soul… please never leave me again." She cried into his bulky shoulder. "Spirit…." Angi had to cut this reunion a little short though. "Look, I will tell you everything Soul just come with us and we can talk then." Angi told the confused Umbreon.

"So, where do I even begin. Ok, so these guys were trying to save you, but ended up being captured in the process. And Jenny was placed in a different room than David, Cinnamon, And Luke. So my friend Crimson over here broke in and tracked Jenny down, asking for a helping hand on rescuing me. But they both got stopped by a houndoom and Crimson told Jenny to forge on. Anyways, once Crimson was done with the houndoom, Jenny and him found all of us and we found a passage way out. But not before being attacked. Spirit was knocked out… and David…" Angi all of a sudden stopped as she watched Soul look around for the red fuzz ball. "So then… David risked his life for us?" Souls eyes had started to well up. "That about sums it all up. I'm sorry." Angi eyes slowly looked downwards, as to avoid eye contact with the upset Umbreon. "No. I won't believe it till I see his body." Banging came from down below, no doubt from the soldiers stampeding around to make sure none of the experiments escaped. Screeching and squealing echoed from the vents as it caved in where Spirit was standing. The vents floor collapsed beneath her feet. As she fell to the floor, it was if In slow motion, she locked eyes with Soul which to her felt like an eternity before she finally dropped through.

"Soul…" Spirit sputtered out as her paws gave out and she gave way. Soul lunged in her direction but just couldn't grasp her in time. She continued to fall, soon to meet with the cold hard marble floor. "Spirit!" Soul followed her through the hole in the floor and dived for her. Nobody had noticed them yet, so it wasn't to dangerous. But with what Soul was about to do would draw everybody to the duo. Finally grasping a hold of her, he had a split second to flip them around so that he could take the blow. After the twelve foot plunge he landed on the floor. His muscles seething with pain, it was very doubtful he would even be able brace the fall without shattering a bone.

Spirits P.O.V

"Soul…" his head bowing down in pain, the tears dropping from his cheek onto my face.

"Spirit. Are you alright? Did you get hurt in the fall?" His eyes stared directly into mine. "No…" I manage to stutter out despite me being in intense pain. "Let's get going." His body struggling to even with hold his own weight. He managed to get up with me on his back. "Soul… don't…" he interrupted me "Spirit, I can handle the extra weight. Guys, can you hear me?" Voices trailed from the opening that me and Soul left./p

"Yeah, we are alright guys. What about you Soul, do you think you can venture on without us?" They looked to Soul which they expected an answer. "Yeah, I think I can make it. Meet at the exit of the building. There, we can get out of here and make our way back to the village. Sound like a plan?" They all responded with a simultaneous nod and headed down the path. "Guess it's just you and me Spirit. I'm not letting you go again. You know that right? What happened back at the village, I'm sorry for…" he paused as he shook of the tears "What I've done to make you be here in this situation. If it weren't for me we wouldn't be here." My loss for words were at max. Every attempt I made to comfort him, he rejected it. We continued on through the empty and silent halls, most likely because the units were positioned in the opposite side of the building. Blood stained the floor as we walked past the corpses of poor experiments on the floor, some dead, some alive crawling to eventually meet their demise. One stood out from others though. One of them was a vulpix standing over the pool of blood of what we assumed was her relative. We walked over to the vulpix, but no response was heard from her. Eventually we walked up to the saddened vulpix who was crying over the corpse. Soul eventually worked up the nerve to disturb the nervous girl.

"Little girl, are you alright?" Soul asked the blood soaked vulpix as she cried over the corpse laying in front of her. She didn't budge one bit. She still sat there crying over her loss, or maybe out of fear..."Little girl, we have to get out of here. I'm sorry about your mother." Soul continued to carry me as we walked past the non responsive vulpix. I looked back, and she grabbed something off of the corpse and darted towards us. Soul smiled as he looked back at the vulpix.

"So I guess you've decided to join me and Soul. Do you talk?" My voice raspy and quiet from the excruciating pain I was in. She continued to walk ahead and slowly nodded. I'm guessing she is way to shaken up to even begin to utter a word. "Soul, its just so sad that there are people and Pokémon like this in this world. To think they would capture an innocent Pokémon like that and take away. She continued to mourn the death of her mom, but it was no matter since we had to leave before we ended up just like her

Group B

Jenny's P.O.V

Rocket Base Vents

Like a cassette tape rewinding I always come back to the thought of David's death. His sacrifice for all of us. Luke came over to me and put his paw on my shoulder, in an effort to comfort me. I shrugged him off as he was slowing me down from my goal.

"How close are we to the exit? Does anybody have any Idea?" Angi questioned the group.

"Yeah. We should be reaching the exit in about 10-15 minutes. That is if we maintain the speed we are at right now." Cold wind blew from behind as the AC had turned on. Soldiers came around again roaming the hallways for the experiments and the duo.

"Think Soul and Spirit are okay Luke?" My tone depicted as very low and sad.

"Don't worry Jenny. They will be fine. It's not as if…." A large creaking sound was heard echoing through the vents. Bolts loosened and popped out. The vent was collapsing beneath our very feet.

"Quick! Everyone! Run!" Crimson shouted. Dashing towards the end of the vent, there was no chance that the soldiers wouldn't hear us darting through. Eventually we were trapped because the other side collapsed in and there was no way out except for jumping. But that was a problem too. The vent was on its last string and no matter what we were going to drop to the floor. Metal wires snapped from the position and brung the whole entire vent down. Crimson grabbed me and saved me from the 15 foot plunge while th3 others were lucky and landed on the corpses near them. "Crimson! Are you alright?" He clenched his teeth as I looked at his side. It wasn't looking good for him. A gash from the metal shrapnel cut deep. Blood leaked out from his wound as he restrained himself from crying. "This might hurt a little. I'm sorry." I seared his wound shut with my flamethrower, preventing anymore blood loss. "Ahhhhhhhgrr… man that hurt. Come on. Let's get out of here before….." boots and cries were heard from down the hall. No doubt the rocket soldiers. "Let's get you out of here! Luke, Angi, Cinnamon! Let's go!" I helped the wounded Zoroark up and we got out of there as fast as we could. The final stretch until we got home.

Vulpix P.O.V

Rocket hallways

Blood was everywhere, covered every surface, and even my fur was soaked in it.

"Come on! We have to go! I already hear them down the next hall! We meet with the others outside, then we get out." Soul yelled. We scattered around the piles of dead body's searching for there missing friends, but to no avail. "Come on Soul, they have to be at the exit already! Let's get out of here while we still can!" Soul didn't want to go, he still wanted to search. He took one look at me and knew they couldn't stay. "Sorry if you're not there guys… alright then. Bolt!" We bolted into the next room over, hopping over the alleyway of shattered glass ahead. I fell over into a pile of glass, tripping on my tails. I could feel them piercing my back, digging deeper, and deeper, drawing my blood and awareness. Muffling me was Soul, trying every measure to stop me from shouting. "It's okay. Just sit down, we'll get the glass out." He assured me. "Thank you…."

No ones P.O.V

Hallways

Everyone was dashing away from the soldiers coming. Houndooms attacking, soldiers shooting.

"Crimson! Where are we?!" Angi yelled to him, who was already ahead of the group

"We are in the lab hallway! We need to…." Soldiers then came from ahead.

"Everyone! This way! Heading down the right corridor, they came across an empty lab as it seems. They ran in and shut the door behind them. "Phew….That was close…."

"Jenny!" The voice shouted from the end of the supposedly empty room.

"Soul!"