Love in the Time of Trepidation

Chapter 5: A Noble

I do hope I'm doing something right with this story, considering the interest seems so much lower this time. Please don't tell me it's the lack of Amour. Anyway, time for Chapter 3!

Chapter 5

A Noble

"Dodge!" Akari found the word tumbling from her lips, but her own limbs were hardly in the greatest of positions to obey her. Kleavor was fast, its enormous golden axe spinning with deadly force. Opposite herself and Lian, Adaman and Irida were struggling to recover, their Pokémon rather woozy from the devastation wreaked around the Heartwood.

It was Lian in the worst position, his arm hanging limply at his side, and the rest of his body not registering her warning. She could barely register it, herself. No matter what she screamed, the rest of her body did not want to obey. Deep down inside, Akari didn't want to acknowledge what it was, though. That was tantamount to death.

So, she acted on instinct. Her body launched forward as the giant axe made to impale its very own warden. Leaving Oshawott and Cyndaquil to get to their own sense of safety, Akari tackled Lian, bringing him to the ground. They rolled out of the way, the boy crying out in pain. Unfortunately, Akari soon realized they had started tumbling down a hill, and Kleavor was still facing their direction.

"Lian!" Irida yelled, but Adaman pulled her back. Akari grew dizzy, only catching flashes of the two of them, one trying to reach the pair and the other holding her back. "Let go!"

"You wanna be sliced in two, be my guest, but regardless, your clan still needs you! Get your head on straight!" Akari wished she could say the same. She and Lian hit a bump, one which launched them sky high.

"Goomy, hang-hang on!" Lian yelled. His partner whimpered and attached itself further to his hat. They began to fall, on a collision course with the cold, hard ground surrounded by torches and shrines. Akari shuddered to think what kind of end that would bring.

"Osh-sha!" Akari felt something else impact their bodies. It was still forceful, but lighter than the ground, and the wetness made it clear that Oshawott had sprung in, his tiny form attempting to bring them down to the ground without injury. He didn't quite manage it, but Akari found herself getting away with mere bumps and bruises. Lian was worse, gripping his arm with a face that wanted to scream.

"Thanks for that, Oshawott," she said, patting her partner on the head. She turned in the direction of the barreling wind, more like a force of nature than a Pokémon. Her heart began to thump wildly, something stirring inside, the fear from before turning her legs to jelly. Trying to find a way to deal with it, she turned to Lian, helping him up. "What happened to it?"

"I don't know..." Lian gasped out, clutching to his broken arm. Goomy oozed off his hat and onto the arm, trying to wrap around it. "One day, Kleavor was fine, and then after that lightning storm..."

"So, they must have been investigating that," Akari concluded. There was no time to think of another alternative. Through the remaining shade of the wood, Irida and Adaman were running, just as roughed up as the pair of them. With the assurance they'd join up, Akari reached up and wiped at the sweat on her face, only to come away with a trickle of blood from a rather thin cut. "Those blades are sharp."

"The sharpest," Lian said. He stumbled back, against the shrine. Bowls clattered on it, consisting of unmixed ingredients, while the warden gasped and tried to suck in breaths against the pain. "Kleavor is lord of these woods for a reason, but I've no idea how to..."

Akari didn't know either, and with Kleavor bearing down on them, she couldn't formulate a response. She stepped forward, her foot crunching on the dirt, while Oshawott stood in front of her. A squeak indicated that Cyndaquil had joined them, far less ready for battle compared to his partner, but his flames igniting nonetheless. "Lian, did the Galaxy Team get wounded by Kleavor?" He didn't respond. "Tell me, I need to know!"