Sorry for the inactivity guys. I've been a little busy with other things. Honestly, this may continue until winter, as I will be going to boot camp for eight weeks sometime in the next two or so months. Hope I don't fall too far behind in chapter writing. lol So for now, enjoy this semi short chapter. We'll see what I manage to get done later.
"Now!" The Pidgeotto shouted.
The two Eevees pushed down on the rock lever and the boulder began to lift. The Pidgeotto slipped some large rocks into the gap. The boulder came back down.
"Argh! We almost had it!" Acura shouted in frustration.
"How are you holding in there sir?" The Pidgeotto asked.
"I've managed to free my lower half. I might be able to pull myself out."
"Good. One more time! Give it all you've got!" The Pidgeotto raised a wing into the air, and swiftly brought it down. The Eevees pushed down on the lever, and Flare crawled out from under the boulder. As soon as he was clear, the boulder slid back down, leaving a gap where he was.
"Very good! Sir, how do you feel?"
"Tired, hot, pain in my right leg..." Flare stood himself up on his front two legs and left rear leg.
"Sir! Please, don't! You'll hurt yourself! Allow me to examine your leg." Flare settled down on the ground. Acura and Crystal looked at each other worryingly.
"Hmm, let's see. Does it hurt here?" The Pidgeotto asked, pressing his wing against Flare's leg.
"Argh! Yes! It does!" Flare yelled.
"And here? How about here?" The Pidgeotto asked, pressing aginst other parts of his leg.
"Ow! Stop!" Flare yelled.
"It appears you have a broken leg, sir." The Pidgeotto declared.
"This is not how I planned this mission." Flare growled.
"I don't think you could've done anything about it, sir. In fact, you're lucky your children followed you. You would surely have suffocated under the dirt and rocks."
"But my men."
"That could not have been prevented under the circumstances." The Pidgeotto interjected.
"I will not let their deaths be in vain."
"Sir, since help will be on the way, might I suggest we find a place to stay? It'll take quite some time to get your leg fixed. When the reinforcements arrive, we'll take you and your children back and continue when you're healed."
"Unacceptable! The more time we spend, the less time we have to save Aeden."
"I understand your feelings, sir, but you are in no condition to travel. You'll just have to let some other team search in your stead."
"How long do you think it'll take to heal?"
"With the right treatment, I'd say a month, maybe two."
"I can't wait that long!" Flare yelled.
"We'll continue the search." Crystal said.
"No. It was dangerous enough for you to come here, but I can't let you two leave my sight. If anything were to happen to you–"
"Yes, we've already been there. The fact is, we're cleverer than you think. Heck, we managed to get this far without the scouts even noticing."
"That's true, but I trust no one with your safety."
"It'd be great if we could stay together during the search, but the fact remains. You're too hurt to continue, and we can still follow the trail."
"One problem. It was washed away in the rain." Flare said.
"Oh, right. Well, we can leave a trail for the search party to follow. That way, they won't spend as much time wandering around." Acura replied.
"It's too dangerous."
"Dad! You can't stop us from going! We're not children anymore! We can take care of ourselves!" Crystal shouted.
Crystal stared into his eyes. Flare looked from her to Acura. "Very well. We'll continue in the morning. Right now, we need to take shelter. If it rained once, it'll rain again. And I don't feel like getting wet tonight."
"Allow me to find a suitable spot for us to hole up in." The Pidgeotto said before taking off away from the avalanche. Flare and his children slowly followed.
It didn't take long for shelter to be found and it soon began raining. The cold from outside drifted into their temporary abode, and sent shivers down their spine. They all huddled around Flare for warmth. Few words were spoken for the remainder of the day.