Welcome to another chapter of Cringe! Sad news, apparently we are beginning to reach the end of Cringe T_ I'm allowing to let you guys ask anything to the characters from now til the chapter before the final. And I'm thinking of giving a little taste of what's expected in the upcoming installment of the Escape series, Saviors. Until then, just sit back and enjoy chapter 7 of Cringe!
Alice's POV
Eevee. The first word that pops into my head after looking at myself in the mirror. Eevee. But how did I change into an Eevee? All I remembered was feeling that aggressive feeling I had when I glanced at Zack and then the rest grew foggy. Vinny gently placed me on a nearby couch and Luna rushed towards me.
"Alice!" she exclaimed as she jumped on the couch and nuzzled my head. "Thank goodness you're okay!"
Her nuzzling gave a warm, secure feeling. Making me feel more protected from any dangers close and far.
"L-Luna?" I called her like the small, shy child I am.
"Yes Alice?"
"Why right now? Why I'm an Eevee?"
"I wish I knew Alice," she said softly. "I wish I knew."
I gave a soft yawn as I curled up next to her, getting tired. Luna nuzzled my head again as she gave a small smile.
"Goodnight Alice," she said softly as I slowly closed my eyes.
Shelby's POV
"I can't believe you couldn't snag one little girl and one Umbreon," Damion yelled at us angrily. "Are you two that stupid or do you simply want to disobey me?"
"Damion," I said softly, "we're sorry for not capturing them, but we can next-"
He slapped me hard on the cheek, causing me to fall on the cold, hard ground.
"You better, you worthless bitch or you and your little mate here will get it."
He stormed off and Zack quickly ran to my side.
"Are you okay sweetie?" he asked.
"I'm okay," I assured.
He held me close and said softly, "Don't worry, we'll catch them if its the last thing we'll do."
Brooke's POV
My fingers curled as I shivered and huddled to the end of the couch, freezing. I slowly glanced at the others, huddling against each other with everyone but Vinny and Heidi had their Pokemon's ears and tails. Heidi gave a soft sigh as she re-did her ponytail and pulled out the map.
"They knew we were going to get out," Gregg mumbled to himself. "How did they even know about our move?"
"We need to figure out what to do next," Heidi announced softly. "We have three choices: the ocean, Nimbasa, or underground."
"Are you blind or something?" Trina snapped, "we just got fucking brutalized out there. We don't have enough energy to keep going, some of us have gotten seriously injured, and one of the injured hasn't even gained conscious yet."
"Calm down Trina."
"Don't tell me to calm down. We all know that the next time we get out that door, we might not be lucky to get out alive."
"And what do you want us to do Trina?" Heidi questioned. "Stay here and rot until they find us and kill us all? And what about Alice? She's too young and innocent to end up in this goddamn situation and I'm not permitting to let her see her brother go before her!"
"We know what we saw in those files back in Mt. Moon. You really think we can avoid that from happening?"
"Listen to me," she growled as she crept up on Trina. "We're all in this hell hole whether we liked it or not. I'm willing to put my life in the line to keep the Halflings alive and safe. It's your problem if you feel that we can't try to get out of this place alive or without being captive, but at least try for Alice. Because we don't want them to screw her up too."
She drew herself away from her and Trina slowly stood up.
"Heidi."
"Yes?"
"You're gonna need me to eliminate that she-bitch of a vixen."
She gave a small smile and then faced the map.
"Alright, it seems the 'safest' way is by the ocean. That'll get rid of Damion, Shelby and Zack, but we still have the Flygon to deal with."
"What if we tried the sewers?" Lilly asked. "It'll make it hard to track us by scent."
"But you know Damion," Peter pointed. "The man is full of surprises."
"And then there's Nimbasa," Gregg announced.
"We all know that's the worst option," I recalled. "All of them have advantages on land."
"Unless we figure the flaw," Peter explained. "Each of them have different statics to get us down but what's one thing they have in similar?"
"Riley," Lilly said softly.
"True, out of all the Halflings, they want Riley the most. So if we have a decoy, we might manage to make it safe."
"It's gonna have to be me, is it?" I groaned.
"You're the only one that can change into different forms," Heidi pointed out.
"Besides, all you have to do is to look like him and act like him and you're all set," Gregg added.
"Fine, I'll do it."
"There's one thing I don't get though, who's the Flygon?" Lilly wondered.
"Meet Sigma Six member Gwen. Tough, brutal, and the Grim Reaper of the group."
"So we have Shelby the Ninetails, Zack the Jolteon, Gwen the killer Flygon, and Damion the human," Trina said out loud. "Nice group."
"Damion isn't human," Heidi announced. "Back in the Pokemon Center in Canalave, all of our attacks seemed like nothing to him. Not even a shot in the head can hurt him. The only one who was able to hurt him was..."
"Riley," Lilly swallowed hard.
"I don't think I wanna stick around to find out what the hell Damion is," Trina said softly.
Vinny's POV
I could hear Megan's soft sobs and Riley's soft whimpering from the door, making me feel queasy. I glanced over at Squirtle who showed a tough time deciding whether or not to go inside.
"Squirtle?" I asked.
"What is it Vinny?" he replied as he glanced up at me.
"I was meaning to ask you when I first saw you, how the hell did you survive?"
"Luck I guess. When I saw Damion getting ready to finish him off, I knew I had to take the blow for him. I blacked out and woke up somewhere in the streets badly injured. I managed to regain my strength and went spent months looking for him. I decided to at least go back home in Jhoto after no luck and used Verity Lakefront as a shortcut. I spotted Damion hurting him badly, stabbing his arm and his side. Before he even had the chance of ending his life, I jumped in and protected him before he had a chance."
"Why didn't you stay with Riley?"
"I lured him away from Riley and learned where they'll be heading, here. And here I am."
"Gosh," I gasped. "Sounds like you've been through alot."
"Well, you do what you gotta do," he sighed. "I hope he's alright."
Riley's POV
I slowly opened my eyes, hearing the soften sobs of my Leafeon mate nearby.
"M-Megan?" I asked softly.
"Riley!" she exclaimed as she nuzzled me. "Thank Arceus you're okay!"
"Where am I?" I asked. "Where's the others?"
My legs quivered as I slowly tried to stand up and fall back on the cot.
"You need to rest Riley, you need to save your strength."
"I need to see if Ali's okay," I told her.
"She's fine," she assured. "You just stay here and rest."
She looked away, tears trickling down her cheeks.
"What's wrong Megan?" I asked her sweetly.
"Nothing," she said softly. "Don't worry about me."
She wiped her tears away with her paws and I slowly went up to her ear and began to sing softly
"When you're feeling down
And see the world like its turning upside down
Or when you're so hurt
That makes you huddle at a corner, losing hope
Whatever troubles get in your way
Whatever tragedies get cause you dismay
Just remember that I'll always chase it away
Hush hush baby don't cry
No matter how big the situation I'll try
To take it all away
Hush hush baby don't cry
Everything will be okay
Just look at me in the eyes
And give your troubles goodbyes
If every thing's crashing down
Always remember that I'll take away your frown
And I'll promise that I'll aways protect you
From all the things that keep you down
Hush hush baby don't cry
No matter how big the situation I'll try
To take it all away
Hush hush baby don't cry
Everything will be okay
Just look at me in the eyes
And give your troubles goodbyes"
She slowly glanced towards me and I gave her a small lick on the cheek. I slowly leaned over and pulled a necklace with a chip of a dark stone tied to it out of my bag and carefully put it on.
"This is what my father gave to me one day when he saw me moping around," I explained. "He told me that when everything seems to go downhill, look in the dark stone and you'll see the one you cherish the most with you; keeping your spirits up, protecting you, giving you love and care...which is why I want you to keep it to keep your hopes and spirits when everything's a mess."
"Oh Riley," she gave a smiled as tears trickled down her cheeks.
I licked her tears away as she licked my cheek. For once, we both felt so secure, so close, so alive. She murred softly as I nuzzled her head and we grew closer and closer, slowly changing our forms into looking like hybrids. Our lips met and tongues touched as we wrapped our arms around each other and intertwined our tails together. Our hearts began to beat at the same rate, our eyes glanced at each other, and our souls felt at one. Megan and I made love...
This brings the end of chapter 7 of Cringe! Please review so I know if i need to work on something or something (that made sense). If you wanna ask anything to the characters go ahead and they'll be up next chapter! We have three chapters until the end of Cringe (i know too soon T_T) and more will come! Stay tuned!