A Rose Made of Shadows

Chapter Six

The weather remained picture-perfect for the rest of the day, but for everyone in the truck, the good atmosphere didn't help the mood much. As the truck pressed on through the forests, everyone began to talk about what might happen once they reached the mountains. As for the mountain range itself, it loomed ominously in the distance.

"Who will we find?"
"I don't know, but I doubt they'll be friendly."
"You think someone with a warship will be friendly?"
"True, but you never know."

The people going have a lot to offer for this mission. Haroff is a natural-born leader, tough and resilient at anything that comes his way. After all, he was the one who made the party for Darkrai King in the first place, so him being leader of the group seemed to be by default.

Raizel and Fireblaze are the group's trusted assassins, agile and fit for stealth missions or whatever else is called for. Both are master sword-wielders, alongside Raizel having a pistol she uses as a last resort. Sapphire is also an assassin, but is still learning more on it, and Raizel and Fireblaze serve as her teachers.

Being a Lucario, Enderaura already has everything he needs, from the power to read people's auras to using his own aura for attacking and defending, not to mention the power of mega-evolving. Adding to that, he has a bone club that he wields like a spear. He serves as the group's scout to make sure everything's okay.

Ellis has the power to temporarily transform into a ghost and take control of others, but this puts some strain on his body, so he only uses it if it's really necessary. Just like Ender, Ellis is on scout duty if called for.

Tyler has his trusty Dragonair sword, which he got as a birthday gift last year. He brought along a first-aid kit to the picnic, but now serves as something to have just in case anyone gets injured and is assigned the role of a healer.

Unlike the others though, Scraggy doesn't really have a weapon on him apart from his attacks like Headbutt and Brick Break. He is, however, the group's technology expert who repairs anything that breaks down or is misplaced.

After about an hour, the truck passed by my house.

"Hey, isn't that Rosa's house?" Fireblaze said.

Raizel looked at the little house for a moment, remembering that she was there with me and Chibi Chu just a few hours ago. "Yup, that's the one."

"If what DK said was correct, we're only about 6 hours or so away from the mountains," Ellis added as he continued to drive. "Hopefully we'll get there before we get hungry..."

"I'm good" replied Tyler.
"Same" Ender added.

Sapphire was sitting next to Haroff, who was busy looking out the window. Sapphire let out a quick sigh and laid her head on Haroff's shoulder, to Haroff's surprise. Tyler decided to lighten the mood up a little by telling some jokes—but it only made everyone else facepalm or facewall in the end.

Halfway there, however, things started to change. The sky began to turn cloudy and the winds picked up. The group was entering the long forest that connected to the mountain range.

"Aw, is it gonna rain?" Sapphire said, looking out through the window.

"I hope not," Scraggy added. "Nothing worse than driving through the woods on a dirt trail in the rain."

And then, the first raindrops.

"Welp, Scraggy, I hope you're happy. It's pouring", Ellis said as he looked at the rain falling on the windshield.

"I didn't mean to jinx it..." Scraggy replied.

The rain began to intensify and the road was starting to take in water like a sponge.

"Uh, guys, this could get ugly..." Ellis said nervously as he firmly gripped the wheel.

"A flood better not happen," Raizel added. "I won't take it nicely if nature doesn't want us to rescue Rosa."

The road began to take in more water than it could handle and turned slushy. The truck was outfitted with traction spikes to grip as much ground as possible, but there was no guarantee with that. The ground began to get bumpy from the debris that was being moved around from the forest by the water.

And then, the truck started to spin. The water level had risen to a flood.

"What's happening?"
"There's a flood!"
"Of course there'd be a flood while we're on this trail!"
"Are we gonna die?"
"The heck we aren't!"
"Ellis! Do something!"
"Does it look like I have an option now?"
"Does this truck have a raft mode or something?"
"If the dealership wasn't trash, then I probably would've sto- I mean, found something better!"
"Ellis!"
"Look out!"

In front of the truck was a huge tree, and the water was carrying the truck right towards it.

"You sure you can't do anything with this truck, Ellis?!" Haroff said as he looked out the driver's window at the tree.

"Floor it, brake it, whatever I try won't work!" Ellis said in a panic.

Then, as if a switch had been hit, the water current changed direction just enough and carried the truck right past the tree, missing it by mere inches.

"Yes! We missed the tree!" Sapphire said.

"Yeah, but now we're really in for a rough ride!" Ellis said as he pointed out the window. The water was cascading down a cliff, the truck being taken along for the ride. "Hold on!"

And the truck went down the cliff like an out-of-control roller coaster, everyone hanging on for dear life, if the crash doesn't take the life out of them.

And then, silence...